RESPIRATORY VARIATION OF HEART-RATE AND SYSTOLIC ARTERIAL-PRESSURE IN ADULTS WITH ATRIAL SEPTAL-DEFECT

Heart rate (HR) variation with respiration (sinus arrhythmia) is believed to be minimal or absent in adults with atrial septal defect (ASD), but there is no valid proof.1 Therefore (and because the way an interatrial communication modifies sinus arrhythmia is of physiologic interest), we studied short-term HR variation in time and frequency domains in adult patients with ASD, and in age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. The variation of noninvasively recorded systolic arterial pressure also was quantified. © 1992.