Repeatability of heart-rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity as metrics of cardiac autonomic function during exercise in young females and males.

Authors

Manuel P Gaspar, João L Marôco, Luís Cruz, Sérgio Laranjo, Helena Santa-Clara, Bo Fernhall, Xavier Melo

Published in

European journal of applied physiology. Oct 25, 2025. Epub Oct 25, 2025.

Abstract

We examined the inter-day repeatability of cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) and heart rate variability (HRV) metrics during a dual-intensity cycling protocol in healthy young males and females.
Forty young adults (20 males, 20 females; age: 18-31 years) completed two randomized reclined cycling bouts at a moderate (50% heart rate reserve [HRR]) and vigorous (80% HRR) exercise intensity on separate days. HRV metrics and spontaneous BRS were analyzed over 2-min bins, using RR intervals and beat-to-beat systolic pressure obtained in a semi-recumbent position. The repeatability of BRS and HRV metrics was examined using coefficients of variation (CV), intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC), and Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement.
BRS showed overall good-to-excellent inter-day repeatability, which was similar across sex and exercise intensities (Females: 50%HRR: CV = 14%, ICC = 0.86, 95% LOA: -1.85 to 1.48 ms/mmHg; 80% HRR: CV = 20%, ICC = 0.86, 95% LOA: -2.24 to 1.98 ms/mmHg; Males: 50% HRR CV = 15%, ICC = 0.82, 95% LOA: -2.10 to 1.78 ms/mmHg; 80% HRR CV = 22%, ICC = 0.77, 95% LOA: -2.69 to 2.07 ms/mmHg). Vagal-related HRV metrics (high-frequency power, SD1, SDNN) exhibited good inter-day repeatability, not altered by vigorous-intensity exercise, with females showing lower repeatability for SD1 and SDNN compared to males (female: CV ~ 20-25%, ICC:0.70-0.85; male: CV ~ 15-20%; ICC:0.75-0.90). The root-mean square of successive differences exhibited the greatest repeatability for HRV metrics, being similar across sex and exercise intensity (CV ~ 13-16%, ICC ~ 0.90).
BRS and vagal-related HRV metrics were repeatable during cycling across intensities and sex, supporting their use in detecting cardiac autonomic changes in clinical and active populations.
NCT06617117.

PMID:
41137920
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 25 Oct 2025.

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