Abstrait

A Comparative Study of Gender Differences in Age Associated Changes in Autonomic Nervous System

Kiran D Thorat, and Vikas Shelke

There is much clinical evidence to suggest that cardiovascular functions vary both in males and females and the activity of autonomic nervous system varies with age and gender. The cardiovascular responses of blood pressure, cardiac output, heart rate and other variables to change in posture differ between the sexes. This study evaluated the gender differences in age-associated changes in cardiac sympathetic activity. This was a prospective study with the Primary Data which was collected from Pravara Rural Hospital Loni, Maharashtra, India. Total 80 completely healthy male and female subjects were selected for the study and divided into three groups according to their age. All the subjects were evaluated using CANWIN cardiac autonomic neuropathy analyzer; a windows based cardiac autonomic neuropathy analysis system with interpretation.Descriptive statistics was done using “unpaired t” test and one way ANOVA results were used to compare between the three study groups. Comparison of outcome parameters was calculated with significance test. This study suggests that gender differences exist in age-related changes in cardiac sympathetic activity. There is marked influence of age on sympathetic nervous system activation due to impaired sensitivity of baroreceptors in women than in men of the same age group