Abstract

Coronary Heart Diseases (CHDs) are major causes of mortality globally. In Indian sub-continent, they cause more than 25% of all deaths annually. According to the “Global Burden of Diseases Study” in India, by the year 2020, projections for CHD mortality are 1.46 and 1.12 millions in men and women respectively.1 Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been used as a simple, cheaper, non-invasive tool to analyze cardiovascular health. It has been reported that women in premenopausal age group have lower incidence of cardiac afflictions as compared to men. This may point towards healthier autonomic parameters in women compared to men. Among normal subjects, males are under the dominance of sympathetic system whereas females reveal parasympathetic preponderance. 2 Cardiac autonomic modulations as determined by HRV are significantly lower in healthy women as compared to healthy men. This apparently paradoxical finding may be explained by lower sympathetic activity (low frequency power) in women. This may provide protection against arrhythmias and against the development of coronary heart disease. 3Only a few studies have focused on the influence of gender on cardiac autonomic modulation in Indian context. Gender differences in the autonomic nervous may be a result of a combination of factors such as developmental differences, the effect of male and/or female sex hormones etc. 4 The aim of the present study was to systematically investigate the effect of gender on HRV and compare various components of HRV between healthy young adult Indian males and females.