Heart World Conference 2026

Background:

The heart rate variability (HRV) is a non-invasive parameter of the autonomic nervous system function and a sensitive indicator of physiological stress. Students of the health professions are exposed to various stressful factors that can affect their autonomic health including academic pressure, quality of sleep and physical activity. This study aims to compare HRV profiles in students of the health professions and identify factors influencing their autonomic function.

Methods:

A cross-sectional design was utilized to assess autonomic function among 237 students (81.4% females, 18.6% males). HRV was analyzed using time-domain,

frequency-domain, and non-linear indices. An integrated diagnostic classification was applied to define overall autonomic status as normal autonomic function (NAF), low HRV (LHRV), parasympathetic dominance (PD), or sympathetic dominance (SD). Associations of HRV with Body mass index (BMI), smoking status, level of physical activity, quality of sleep, and perceived academic stress were analyzed using Chi-square tests and correlation analyses. A p-value of

<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

Overall autonomic classification showed NAF (65.0%), PD (16.9%), SD (16.9%) and LHRV (1.3%). No significant associations were observed between overall HRV diagnosis and BMI category, smoking status, level of exercise, and sleep quality (p > 0.05). Notably, perceived academic stress was significantly associated with autonomic imbalance among female students (p = 0.022) but not males (p = 0.101). The linear associations between continuous HRV indices and BMI or sleep quality scores were statistically insignificant.