Impact of shorter MDR tuberculosis regimen drugs on heart rate variability in MDR tuberculosis patients at tertiary care hospital

Background: Tuberculosis is major cause of death in India. Analysis of heart rate variability is one of the most popular methods of autonomic nervous system evaluation. Shorter MDR-TB regimen drugs affect both central nervous system as well as peripheral nervous system. Existing research suggests that active pulmonary tuberculosis causes ANS dysfunction. So, by HRV measurement impact of shorter MDR-TB regimen drugs on autonomic dysfunction can be correlated. Aim of the current investigation was to evaluate effect of shorter MDR-TB regimen drugs on cardiac autonomic regulation in MDR-TB patients with respect to heart rate variability as a parameter.Methods: Fifty newly diagnosed MDR-TB patients of either gender on shorter MDR- TB regimen were enrolled in this study after taking consent. After 20 minutes rest, ECG was taken by “physiopac digital polygraph” software for 5 minutes. Two follow-up HRV assessments were done on 2nd month and 4th or 6th month of treatment. HRV was calculated by root mean square deviation of successive differences between adjacent RR intervals (RMSSD) and low frequency and high frequency ratio.Results: Repeated measures ANOVA showed no statistically significant difference in HRV parameters between baseline, 2 months and 6 months groups. So, sympathetic and parasympathetic modulation in terms of HRV remains unchanged during treatment of MDR-TB with shorter MDR-TB regimen drugs.Conclusions: Shorter MDR-TB regimen drugs don’t have any significant impact on HRV in MDR- TB patients, No correlation was observed between HRV and heart rate in MDR-TB patients.