The effect of being married on heart rate variability, an indicator of autonomic dysfunction: A retrospective study

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive assessment that reflects the autonomic functions of the heart and is known to be impaired in many diseases. In our study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between HRV and being married. The study included 104 patients, between the aged 20 to 40 years were included in the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups as 53 healthy married (group 1) and 51 healthy unmarried (group 2). 24-hour rhythm Holter recordings were performed on all married and unmarried patients. Group 1 had a mean age of 32 ± 5 years and 47.2% men, and group 2 had a mean age of 30 ± 5 years and 54.9% men. Standard deviation of normal to normal (SDNN) was 150 ± 40 versus 128 ± 30 (P = .003), SDNN index was 66 ± 20 versus 56 ± 12 (P = .004), the square root of the mean of the squares of the differences of the adjacent root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) was 37 ± 10 versus 30 ± 10 (P < .001), percentage of successive R-R intervals that differ by more than 50 milliseconds (PNN50) was 13.5 ± 7 versus 8.5 ± 7 (P = .001), HF was 450 ± 270 versus 225 ± 130 (P < .001) found to be significantly less in the group 2. LF/HF ratio was 1.68 ± 0.65 versus 3.31 ± 1.56 (P < .001) found to be significantly higher in the group 2. In our study, it is possible to say that the sympathetic system effect on the heart was more dominant and the HRV was lower in the unmarried group.