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Biofeedback treatment of prehypertension: analyses of efficacy, heart rate variability and EEG approximate entropy

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 21, pages 973–975 (2007)Cite this article

The effect of relaxation-assisted electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback on blood pressure in 49 college students with prehypertension was observed. Following 10 sessions of biofeedback training, the participants could lower their systolic blood pressures 10.6 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure 4.7 mm Hg with an remarkable increment in the high-frequency (HF) power spectrum of heart rate variability (HRV) and the approximate entropy of electroencephalogram at electrodes Fp1 and Fp2, but with a significant decrement in the low-frequency (LF) power spectrum of HRV and LF/HF ratio. This efficacy may be due to the effect that the relaxation-assisted EMG biofeedback could shift the autonomic interaction towards vagal dominance with the involvement of cognitive processing.

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Acknowledgements

This study was partially supported by grants from the Ministry of Health of China (no. WSBKYJJ2002-1-004), Guangdong Provincial Department of Science & Technology (no. 2002C31209) and the Department of Health of Guangdong Province (no. 4202002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, Laboratory of Biofeedback, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, PR China

    X Y Xu, J Gao, D Ling & T H Wang

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  1. X Y Xu
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  2. J Gao
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Correspondence to T H Wang.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Human Hypertension website (http://www.nature.com/jhh)

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Xu, X., Gao, J., Ling, D. et al. Biofeedback treatment of prehypertension: analyses of efficacy, heart rate variability and EEG approximate entropy. J Hum Hypertens 21, 973–975 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jhh.1002237

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