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Rheumatology • Rheumatoid Arthritis
Should we be using heart rate variability counts to gauge disease activity in persons with rheumatoid arthritis?
Studies are now being pursued to ability the of implantable bioelectric device stimulation of the vagal nerve to attenuate disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The rationale is to upregulate the parasympathetic nervous system with vagal stimulation and simultaneously downgrade the sympathetic predominance that is associated with increased disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.
Answer from: at Academic Institution
As noted, there is now intriguing, yet preliminary, evidence that electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve may attenuate disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis and perhaps other immune-mediated diseases. (Genovese et al., Lancet Rheum 2:e527; 2020) However, the mechanisms by which this may occur ...
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Answer from: at Community Practice
Thanks for the citation and response. Heart rate variability is a measurable manifestation of the fluctuations that occur with the sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic nerve systems in response to minor hemodynamic changes. A low heart rate variability reflects sympathetic predominance tha...