Baroreflex sensitivity and cardiovascular mortality in patients with mild to moderate heart failure.

Abstract

Low vagal tone is correlated with a poor prognosis in patients with heart failure. Sympathetic tone measured as plasma noradrenaline concentration also contributed to survival. An additional contribution of vagal tone to survival could not be shown when sympathetic tone was considered simultaneously. This may be due to the inverse relation of sympathetic and parasympathetic tone and to the insensitivity of the multiple regression method to identify additional risk factors in small numbers of patients.