Introduction: The increase in the number of studies has led to greater security in the application of this method and the determination of its effectiveness in adults.. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate heart rate variability in healthy individuals submitted to different levels of positive expiratory pressure using an expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP) device.
Material and methods: The study involved 27 healthy male individuals ranging in age from 20 to 35 years. Patient histories were taken and the subjects were submitted to a physical examination. The volunteers were monitored using the Polar 810s^® and submitted to the EPAP experiment. Analyses were performed on variables of the frequency domain. Sympathetic and parasympathetic bands and their relationship with sympathovagal response were also analyzed.
Results: The mean value of this variable was 526.89 (55.50) ms² in the first period, 2811.0 (721.10) ms² in the fourth period and 726.52 (123.41) ms² in the fifth period. Regarding the parasympathetic area, significant differences were detected when Periods 1 and 5 (no load) were compared with periods in which the individuals were subjected to the use of the therapy. Sympathetic and parasympathetic areas together, a significant difference was detected regarding the sympathetic/parasympathetic ratio in the comparison between Periods 1 and 4 (p < 0.01) as well as Periods 2 and 4 (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The findings of the present study suggest that the therapeutic use of EPAP significantly alters the parameters of heart rate variability in the frequency domain, highlighting the importance of monitoring and care during the practice of EPAP.