OBJECTIVE

To assess heart rate variability (HRV) in Boxers with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), assess the ability of HRV analysis to identify differences in Boxers on the basis of severity of their arrhythmia, and evaluate the use of HRV to determine whether persistently high sympathetic tone is present in these dogs.

DESIGN

Prospective study.

ANIMALS

24 Boxers with ARVC and 10 clinically normal non-Boxer dogs.

PROCEDURE

Boxers were categorized as dogs with congestive heart failure (CHF), dogs with < or = 2 ventricular premature complexes (VPCs)/24 h (designated unaffected), or dogs with > 1,000 VPCs/24 h (designated affected). Ambulatory electrocardiography (24 hours) was performed in each dog. Recordings were analyzed for HRV variables at a commercial laboratory; differences in HRV variables among groups were compared with 1-way ANOVA.

RESULTS

Compared with control non-Boxer dogs and Boxers without CHF (affected and unaffected Boxers), HRV was reduced in Boxers with CHF. No differences in HRV variables were detected between affected and unaffected Boxers. Inconsistent differences were identified between the control dogs and Boxers without CHF that had various degrees of arrhythmias.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Results suggest that persistently high sympathetic tone is not a consistent feature of ARVC. Differences in some HRV variables between Boxers without CHF and control dogs suggest that Boxers may have different autonomic control of heart rate, compared with that of clinically normal non-Boxer dogs. The usefulness of HRV analysis appears limited to Boxers with ARVC that have systolic dysfunction and CHF.