Cardiorespiratory Coupling in Asthmatic Children

The relationship between cardiac and respiratory autonomic control has been suggested to be altered in several respiratory disorders. However, and despite the increasing prevalence of asthma, there are not studies assessing the cardiorespiratory coupling (CRC) with respect to the asthmatic status. Since altered autonomic control has been suggested to play a major role in asthma, in this work overnight CRC was assessed in a group of 67 children who underwent a three-month inhaled corticosteroids treatment. After treatment completion, CRC was reduced (p < 0.005) in the subjects without or with a low risk of asthma, whereas it kept unchanged in those with a worse prognosis, suggesting that an altered interaction between cardiac and respiratory activity might be related with an increased risk of asthma.