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Autonomic Nervous System Function During Sleep Among Women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome

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Abstract

This study compared heart-rate variability (HRV) indices of autonomic nervous system function during two nights of sleep between women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS, n = 35) and healthy controls (n = 38), and among subgroups within the IBS sample based on predominant stool patterns. HRV measures were estimated in conjunction with polysomnographic sleep scoring to define sleep stage-specific autonomic indices. Overall, there were no differences in indicators of HRV between women with IBS and controls. However, within the IBS group, women with diarrhea-predominant IBS demonstrated significantly increased parasympathetic modulation and lower sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system balance across sequential NREM periods and REM cycles compared to both constipation-predominant and alternating IBS subjects. These results suggest that differences in mean level of HRV between predominant bowel groups in IBS patients are large, and that this effect is consistent in the different sleep stages and at different times of night.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Drs. Roseanne Armitage and Robert F. Hoffmann at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Sleep and Chronophysiology Laboratory for sharing their NREMPGET program to identify and to partition NREM periods during sleep. We would also like to thank the women who volunteered for this study, which involved sleeping for several nights in a strange place covered by electrodes. We appreciated Dr. Marty Lentz’s willingness to be consulted on issues large and small related to sleep. Supported by grants from the NINR, NIH (NR01094 and P30 NR04001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, University of Washington, Box 357266, Seattle, WA, 98125-7266, USA

    Monica E. Jarrett, Robert L. Burr, Carol A. Landis & Margaret M. Heitkemper

  2. Department of Biostatistics and Office of Nursing Research, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Kevin C. Cain

  3. Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, School of Nursing Sleep Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    James D. Rothermel

Authors
  1. Monica E. Jarrett
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  2. Robert L. Burr
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  3. Kevin C. Cain
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  4. James D. Rothermel
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  5. Carol A. Landis
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  6. Margaret M. Heitkemper
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Correspondence to Monica E. Jarrett.

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Jarrett, M.E., Burr, R.L., Cain, K.C. et al. Autonomic Nervous System Function During Sleep Among Women with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Dig Dis Sci 53, 694–703 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-007-9943-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-007-9943-9

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