Sex differences in heart rate variability following acute traumatic brain injury

Background: Sex differences in outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are becoming increasingly recognised. This paper examines whether such differences are found on measures of heart rate variability (HRV), a measure previously found to correlate with injury severity and outcome. Materials, methods and results: Data was collected on 16 subjects with TBI and their age and sex matched controls. Data included injury details, continuous electrocardiograph recordings and rehabilitation outcome. Evidence of cardiac dysfunction was found in the TBI data compared to their matched healthy controls. Furthermore, there was preliminary suggestion of sex differences in the HRV parameters of the TBI group. Conclusions: These group findings replicate previous literature on HRV following TBI. The need to follow-up this paper with larger sample of TBI subjects in order to thoroughly examine sex differences in HRV parameters is recommended.