Heart Rate Variability May Predict the Severity of Appendicitis:A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: to evaluate the role of heart rate variability (hrv) in predicting pre-operative severity ofappendicitis. methods: in this cross-sectional study, 171 cases of acute appendicitis who underwent appendectomy were enrolled. pre-anesthetic pulse rate of included patients were documented while the severity of appendicitis was determined by intra-operative evidences reported by two independent surgeons. demographic characteristics, laboratory variables, and alvarado criteria were recorded. results: the mean age of patients was 28.75±4.21 years; 54% were men. hrv negatively associated the severity of appendix inflammation. a positive association was found between hrv and omental wrapping and alvarado score (p<0.01). the receiver operating characteristic (roc) curve analysis demonstrated that hrv could differentiate simple and complicated appendicitis with a sensitivity of 78.5% and specificity of 97.2%. conclusion: the present findings revealed that hrv may predict the pre-operative severity of appendicitis and help differentiate simple and complicated appendicitis.