The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis

Abstract Chronic liver damage leads to scarring of the liver tissue and ultimately a systemic illness known as cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis exhibit multi‐organ dysfunction and high mortality. Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is a hallmark of cirrhosis, reflecting a state of defective cardi...

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Main Authors: Noor‐Ul‐Hoda Abid, Ali R. Mani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-04-01
Series:Physiological Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.15261
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author Noor‐Ul‐Hoda Abid
Ali R. Mani
author_facet Noor‐Ul‐Hoda Abid
Ali R. Mani
author_sort Noor‐Ul‐Hoda Abid
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Chronic liver damage leads to scarring of the liver tissue and ultimately a systemic illness known as cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis exhibit multi‐organ dysfunction and high mortality. Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is a hallmark of cirrhosis, reflecting a state of defective cardiovascular control and physiological network disruption. Several lines of evidence have revealed that decreased HRV holds prognostic information and can predict survival of patients independent of the severity of liver disease. Thus, the aim of this review is to shed light on the mechanistic and prognostic implications of HRV analysis in patients with cirrhosis. Notably, several studies have extensively highlighted the critical role systemic inflammation elicits in conferring the reduction in patients’ HRV. It appears that IL‐6 is likely to play a central mechanistic role, whereby its levels also correlate with manifestations, such as autonomic neuropathy and hence the partial uncoupling of the cardiac pacemaker from autonomic control. Reduced HRV has also been reported to be highly correlated with the severity of hepatic encephalopathy, potentially through systemic inflammation affecting specific brain regions, involved in both cognitive function and autonomic regulation. In general, the prognostic ability of HRV analysis holds immense potential in improving survival rates for patients with cirrhosis, as it may indeed be added to current prognostic indicators, to ultimately increase the accuracy of selecting the recipient most in need of liver transplantation. However, a network physiology approach in the future is critical to delineate the exact mechanistic basis by which decreased HRV confers poor prognosis.
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spelling doaj.art-8b535efd41df4fbe95c60550cc36b4d52022-12-22T02:20:51ZengWileyPhysiological Reports2051-817X2022-04-01108n/an/a10.14814/phy2.15261The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosisNoor‐Ul‐Hoda Abid0Ali R. Mani1Network Physiology Lab Division of Medicine UCL London UKNetwork Physiology Lab Division of Medicine UCL London UKAbstract Chronic liver damage leads to scarring of the liver tissue and ultimately a systemic illness known as cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis exhibit multi‐organ dysfunction and high mortality. Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is a hallmark of cirrhosis, reflecting a state of defective cardiovascular control and physiological network disruption. Several lines of evidence have revealed that decreased HRV holds prognostic information and can predict survival of patients independent of the severity of liver disease. Thus, the aim of this review is to shed light on the mechanistic and prognostic implications of HRV analysis in patients with cirrhosis. Notably, several studies have extensively highlighted the critical role systemic inflammation elicits in conferring the reduction in patients’ HRV. It appears that IL‐6 is likely to play a central mechanistic role, whereby its levels also correlate with manifestations, such as autonomic neuropathy and hence the partial uncoupling of the cardiac pacemaker from autonomic control. Reduced HRV has also been reported to be highly correlated with the severity of hepatic encephalopathy, potentially through systemic inflammation affecting specific brain regions, involved in both cognitive function and autonomic regulation. In general, the prognostic ability of HRV analysis holds immense potential in improving survival rates for patients with cirrhosis, as it may indeed be added to current prognostic indicators, to ultimately increase the accuracy of selecting the recipient most in need of liver transplantation. However, a network physiology approach in the future is critical to delineate the exact mechanistic basis by which decreased HRV confers poor prognosis.https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.15261autonomic dysfunctioncirrhosisheart rate variabilityliverMELDnetwork physiology
spellingShingle Noor‐Ul‐Hoda Abid
Ali R. Mani
The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
Physiological Reports
autonomic dysfunction
cirrhosis
heart rate variability
liver
MELD
network physiology
title The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
title_full The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
title_fullStr The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
title_full_unstemmed The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
title_short The mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
title_sort mechanistic and prognostic implications of heart rate variability analysis in patients with cirrhosis
topic autonomic dysfunction
cirrhosis
heart rate variability
liver
MELD
network physiology
url https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.15261
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