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Table 4 Effect estimates (with 95%-confidence intervals) of particulate air pollution on heart rate variability parameters per interquartile range increase in the respective pollutant.

From: Changes in deceleration capacity of heart rate and heart rate variability induced by ambient air pollution in individuals with coronary artery disease

  

PM2.5

UFP

EC

OC

 

Hours before recording

5 minutes of spontaneous breathing in supine position

HFn

%-change of the arithmetic mean per increase in IQR pollutant (95%-CI)

 

0 - 23 h

-3.6 (-11.6;4.2)

-2.2 (-10.8;6.3)

-5.1 (-12.6;2.4)

-9.9* (-19.2;-0.6)

 

24 - 47 h

0.0 (-7.0;7.1)

2.1 (-7.1;6.3)

-1.0 (-8.3;6.3)

-2.7 (-11.7;6.4)

 

RMSSD

%-change of the geometric mean per increase in IQR pollutant (95%-CI)

 

0 - 23 h

-3.5 (-8.9;2.2)

-0.4 (-6.5;6.0)

-7.2** (-12.0;-2.1)

-8.0* (-14.0;-1.7)

 

24 - 47 h

-0.7 (-5.8;4.7)

0.9 (-5.8;8.0)

-2.9 (-7.8;2.3)

-2.5 (-8.5;4.0)

24-hour recordings

RMSSD

%-change of the geometric mean per increase in IQR pollutant (95%-CI)

 

concurrent

-2.5 (-8.9;4.3)

1.9 (-4.1;8.4)

-2.9 (-8.0;2.4)

-1.7 (-8.2;5.3)

 

0 - 23 h

-3.7 (-10.6;3.8)

2.3 (-4.3;9.3)

-2.7 (-8.4;3.3)

-1.3 (-8.1;6.1)

 

24 - 47 h

-6.0 (-12.6;1.1)

-2.1 (-8.8;5.2)

-5.5* (-10.7;-0.1)

-5.8 (-12.1;0.9)

 

pNN50

%-change of the arithmetic mean per increase in IQR pollutant (95%-CI)

 

concurrent

0.6 (-14.9;16.1)

5.5 (-8.4;19.3)

-4.7 (-17.1;7.6)

-5.9 (-22.0;10.2)

 

0 - 23 h

-6.4 (-23.1;10.2)

1.6 (-13.5;16.7)

-9.6 (-23.0;3.9)

-14.5 (-30.3;1.2)

 

24 - 47 h

-16.0 (-32.4;0.4)

-7.5 (-23.8;8.8)

-13.8* (26.6;-1.1)

-17.5* (-33.0;-2.1)

 

DC

%-change of the arithmetic mean per increase in IQR pollutant (95%-CI)

 

concurrent

-6.4 (-13.1;0.3)

-0.8 (-7.1;5.4)

-9.1** (-15.4;-2.8)

-11.5** (-19.4;-3.6)

 

0 - 23 h

-9.9* (-17.4;-2.3)

-3.0 (-9.6;3.6)

-11.5** (-18.1;-4.9)

-14.2** (-22.2;-6.2)

 

24 - 47 h

-11.4** (-19.4;-3.7)

-5.6 (-13.2;2.0)

-10.4** (-17.3;-3.5)

-11.4** (-19.4;-3.4)

  1. PM2.5: mass concentration of particles < 2.5 μm diameter; UFP: number concentration of particles between 0.01 and 0.1 μm diameter; EC, OC: elemental and organic carbon; HFn: normalized high-frequency; IQR: interquartile range; CI: confidence interval; RMSSD: square root of the mean square of successive differences of normal-to-normal (NN) intervals, pNN50: percentage of adjacent NN intervals which differ more than 50 ms, DC: deceleration capacity.
  2. * p < 0.05 (significant), ** p < 0.01 (highly significant).