Effect of Slow Breathing Exercise on Time Domain Heart Rate Variability in Transfusion Dependent Thalassemic Patients

Time domain measure of heart rate variability (HRV) is a newersystem to seek out any alteration in cardiacautonomic nerve function (CANF) in transfusion dependent thalassemic (TDT) patients. Slow breathing exercise(SBE) plays important role in improvement of HRV in health and various diseases.This research aims to observe theeffect of slow breathing exercise (SBE) on time domain measures of HRV in TDT patients. This prospectiveinterventional study was done in the Department of Physiology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University(BSMMU), Dhaka in 2018 on 60 male TDT patients aged 15-30 years. Thirty patients received conventionaltreatment and 30 patients performed slow breathing exercise along with the conventional treatment for 3 months. Ageand sex matched healthy control were taken to compare. All subjects were followed up at baseline and after 3 months.Time domain HRV parameters were recorded by Power Lab 8/35. For statistical analysis paired sample 't' test andindependent sample 't' test were done. Mean RR interval, Mean SD, RMSSD and pRR50% were found significantlylower in TDT patients compared to healthy control at baseline and on the other hand mean heart rate was significantlyhigher in this group of patients. After 3 months of slow breathing exercise, significant decrement of mean heart rateand significant increment of others parameters occurred with trend of improvement in cardiac autonomic nervefunction in TDT patients. In conclusion slow breathing exercise may improve cardiac autonomic nerve function andsympathovagal balance in transfusion dependent thalassemic patients. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Med. Coll. J. 2022;1(2):65-69