The influence of motor impairment on autonomic heart rate modulation among children with cerebral palsy

The study of heart rate variability is an important tool for a noninvasive evaluation of the neurocardiac integrity. The present study aims to evaluate the autonomic heart rate modulation in supine and standing positions in 12 children diagnosed with cerebral palsy and 16 children with typical motor development (control group), as well as to relate the level of motor impairment in children with cerebral palsy, as classified by to the Gross Motor Function Classification System, to the heart rate variability indices. The heart rate variability was analyzed by linear model in the frequency domain, at low and high frequency bands in normalized units and low and high frequency ratio. The results indicate that children with cerebral palsy present lower heart rate variability indices, indicating sympathovagal imbalance. The decrease of heart rate variability in children with cerebral palsy is related to the motor impairment level.