The autonomic regulation of heart rate in young individuals with visual dysfunctions

Visual dysfunctions may cause changes in the autonomic regulation of heart rate due chronic social and emotional stress and because of direct influence of reduction visual inputs on higher autonomic centres. In this article the comparative analysis of the heart rate variability was performed in young people with congenital (n = 32) and obtained (n = 38) visual dysfunctions compared to sighted (n = 34). The results were interpreted with double-contour model for the heart rate autonomic regulation which was proposed by R.M. Baevsky (1968). Visual dysfunctions were characterized by changes in the autonomic regulation of heart rate, which are more pronounced in congenital pathology. It found that higher sensitivity to changes of autonomic regulation of heart rate in the presence of visual dysfunctions was observed in men. Young men with visual dysfunctions have the tension of heart rate regulation mechanisms due to an increased activity of the central regulation and the shift vegetative balance towards the sympathetic nervous system activity. Young women with visual dysfunctions have the tendency to increased activity of autonomous regulation and the shift vegetative balance towards the parasympathetic nervous system activity. In boys with congenital visual dysfunctions objective physiological signs of emotional stress were detected