Citation

Loguidice MJ, Schutt RC, Horton JW, Minei JP, Keeley EC. J. Burn Care Res. 2015; 37(3): e227-33.

Affiliation

From the *Department of Medicine, †Division of Cardiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; ‡Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Texas; and §Department of Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/BCR.0000000000000260

PMID

26061155

Abstract

Heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive technique used to quantify fluctuations in the interval between normal heartbeats, is a predictor of mortality in some patient groups. The aim of this study was to assess HRV in burn trauma patients as a predictor of mortality. The authors prospectively performed 24-hour Holter monitoring on injured and collected demographic information, burn injury details, and in-hospital clinical events. Analysis of HRV in the time and frequency domains was performed. A total of 40 injured with a mean age of 44 ± 15 years were enrolled. Mean %TBSA burn was 27 ± 22% for the overall population and was significantly higher in those who died compared with those who survived (55 ± 23% vs 19 ± 13%; P <.0001). There was a statistically significant inverse linear correlation between SD of NN intervals and %TBSA (r = -.337, R = 0.113, 95% CI = -0.587 to -0.028, two-tailed P =.034), as well as with ultra low frequency power and %TBSA burn (r = -0.351, R = 0.123, 95% CI = -0.152 to -0.009; P =.027). The receiver-operator characteristic showed the area under the curve for %TBSA as a predictor of death was 0.82 (P <.001), for SD of NN interval was 0.94 (P <.0001), and for ultra low frequency power was 0.96 (P <.0001). Deranged HRV in the early postburn period is a strong predictor of death.

Language: en