Mitral valve prolapse is one of the most frequent structural valve abnormalities in children. Autonomic nervous system plays an important role in mitral valve functioning.
Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine the character of autonomic regulation and provision in frequently ill children with mitral valve prolapse. A complex study was conducted including 116 frequently ill children with mitral valve prolapse and 22 children with mitral valve prolapse, who had upper-respiratory infections up to 6 times a year, aged 6 to 16 years. All subjects had undergone electrocardiography and heart ultrasound scan. Method of cardiointervalography was used to determine functional condition of the autonomic nervous system. A study of general starting autonomic tone showed that children with elevated sympathic tone were prevalent among frequently ill children with mitral valve prolapse. Meanwhile, the group of children who had upper respiratory tract infections less than 6 times a year predominantly had eutonic autonomic tone. Frequently ill children with mitral valve prolapse in comparison to children with mitral valve prolapse who had upper respiratory tract infections less than 6 times a year, were observed to be vagotonic twice as often.
Frequently ill children with mitral valve prolapse have more pronounced changes in time and spectral figures of cardiac rhythm variability, regulatory systems condition and autonomic provision of cardiac activity in comparison with a group of children with mitral valve prolapse who encountered upper-respiratory tract infections less than 6 times a year.