• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.139-148
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• 2012

Purpose: A study was designed to compare heart rate variability (HVR) of older adults with postprandial hypotension (PPH) with older adults with no PPH. Methods: The samples were community-dwelling older adults (${\geq}$ 60 years old) with PPH (n=35) and without PPH (n=35). HRV was measured by 10 minutes of electrocardiography using Physiolab 400 and analyzed in time domain (SDNN) and with power spectral analysis in frequency domain (TP, LF, HF, LF/HF). Blood pressure was measured every 15 minutes before and until 120 minutes after the meal. Results: All HRV parameters were lower in the PPH group compared to those with no PPH. Specifically the measures of SDNN, TP, LF, and LF/HF of the PPH group were significantly lower (U=385.0, $p$=.008; U=361.0, $p$=.003; U=375.0, $p$=.005; U=368.0, $p$=.004, respectively). Further, the LF and LF/HF of SBP (${\geq}140$ mmHg) group and the LF/HF of DBP (${\geq}$ 90 mmHg) group were significantly lower ($x^2$=6.33, $p$=.042; $x^2$=33.10, $p$ <.001; $x^2$=11.03, $p$=.004, respectively). Conclusion: These findings indicate that the autonomic nervous functions in persons with PPH are less activated than those persons with no PPH. The findings contribute to an understanding of HRV and the association of autonomic nervous function with the mechanism of PPH.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.151-164
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• 2002

PURPOSE: Estrogen replacement therapy is indicated for the relief of hot flushes and urogenital atrophy, the prevention of osteoporosis and the reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease. The present study assessed by blood pressure, heart rate variability, and climacteric symptoms in menopausal women before treatment and at 1 month during estrogen replacement therapy. METHODS: The study sample consisted of 16 healthy menopausal women (range 49 to 59 years, mean : 53.4 years) attending menopausal clinics for the complaint of climateric symptoms at S. hospital in Chunchoen. They were all non-smokers and no patient had symptoms or evidence of cardiovascular disease. They took estrogen replacement therapy (conjugated estrogen 0.625 mg with or without medroxy progesteron 2.5mg) for 1 month. Blood pressure, heart rate variability(heart period and vagal tone) through ECG, and climacteric symptom were measured in all subjects before treatment and at 1 month during treatment. Climacteric symptom questionnaire which was developed by Neugarten et al.(1963) was modified with 20 items of question(Cronbach's alpha = 88 -.89). The data was collected from Sept. 1. 2000 to July. 30. 2001. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in mean systolic and diastolic pressure between the baseline and at 1 month during treatment. The mean heart period and vagal tone were slightly increased, but difference of mean heart period and vagal tone were not statistically significant between the baseline and at 1 month during treatment. The score of climacteric symptoms decreased significantly from the baseline after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Even though, this study did not show that estrogen replacement therapy led decrease of blood pressure and increase heart rate variability, climacteric symptoms reduced much in all subjects after taking drugs. These results suggest that there is need to repeat study with long term period.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2003

Numerous studies of short-term, beat-to-beat variability in cardiovascular signals have used linear analysis techniques. However, no study has been done about the appropriateness of linear techniques or the comparison between linearities and nonlinearities in short-term, beat-to-beat variability. This paper aims to verify the appropriateness of linear techniques by investigating nonlinearities in short-term, beat-to-beat variability. We compared linear autoregressive moving average(ARMA) with nonlinear neural network(NN) models for predicting current instantaneous heart rate(HR) and mean arterial blood pressure(BP) from past HRs and BPs. To evaluate these models. we used HR and BP time series from the MIMIC database. Experimental results indicate that NN-based nonlinearities do not play a significant role and suggest that 10 technique provides adequate characterization of the system dynamics responsible for generating short-term, beat-to-beat variability.