Evolution of Parasympathetic Modulation throughout the Life Cycle

Abstract

Based on the largest data set ever available for analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) variables, in healthy individuals, it was possible to determine the evolutionary behavior of three representative components of parasympathetic nervous system function (RMSSD, PNN50, and HF ms 2 ), in different age groups of the life cycle: newborns, children and adolescents, young adults, and, finally, middle-aged adults. A near-parabolic and nonsynchronous behavior was observed among the different variables evaluated, with low values at first, then progressive elevation, and later fall, approximating the values of the newborns to the values of middle-aged adults and suggesting that the autonomic nervous system, at least relatively to its parasympathetic component, undergoes a growing maturation that is completed in the young adult and later suffers a progressive degeneration, completing the life cycle. This fact should be considered when comparing the analysis between healthy individuals and those with different states of pathological impairment.