Acute effects of expiratory positive pressure on autonomic cardiac modulation during spontaneous and slow deep breathing in COPD patients

Abstract Aim: to evaluate the acute effects of expiratory positive airway pressure on cardiac autonomic modulation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients during spontaneous breathing and slow deep breathing. Methods: 17 patients were evaluated. The R-R intervals were collected (Polar® S810i) during spontaneous breathing (10 minutes) and slow deep breathing (4 minutes), with and without 5 cmH2O expiratory positive airway pressure. Stable signals were analyzed by Kubios®. Heart rate variability indices were computed in time domain and in frequency domain. Results: Expiratory positive airway pressure application affected low frequency (spontaneous breathing: 62.5±4.1 vs slow deep breathing: 28.2±4.2, p