The impact of menstrual cycle phase on cardiac autonomic regulation

Authors: Mckinley, Paula S.; King, Arlene R.¹; Shapiro, Peter A.²; Slavov, Iordan¹; Fang, Yixin³; Chen, Ivy S.¹; Jamner, Larry D.⁴; Sloan, Richard P.

Source: Psychophysiology, Volume 46, Number 4, July 2009 , pp. 904-911(8)

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

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Abstract:

This study investigated menstrual cycle phase differences in heart rate (HR) and RR interval variability (RRV) in 49 healthy, premenopausal, eumenorrheic women (age 30.2±6.2 years). HR and RRV were computed from ambulatory 24-h electrocardiogram, collected for up to 6 days, with at least 1 day each during early to midfollicular and midluteal menstrual phases. Phase effects on HR and RRV were assessed using linear mixed effects models with a random intercept to account for the correlation of observations within each subject as well as intrasubject variation. During follicular phase monitoring, women had significantly lower average HR (−2.33 bpm), and higher standard deviation, the root mean squared successive difference, and high frequency (0.04-0.15 Hz) and low frequency (0.15-0.40 Hz) RRV than during the luteal phase. These results provide strong support for the influence of menstrual phase on cardiac autonomic regulation in premenopausal women.

Keywords: Menstrual cycle; Normal volunteers; Heart rate; Autonomic regulation; Heart rate variability

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8986.2009.00811.x

Affiliations: 1: Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA 2: Division of Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA 3: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA 4: Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California, USA

Publication date: 2009-07-01