Does continuous positive airway pressure increase heart rate variability in congestive heart failure?
Short-term application of nasal continuous positive airway pressure increases heart rate variability and time and frequency domain indexes of parasympathetic activity without influencing cardiac sympathetic activity. This increase may occur reflexively, through stimulation of pulmonary mechanoreceptor afferents.
The data suggest an impairment of movement initiation as main cause of bradykinesia in early HE.