Sympathovagal Imbalance in Drug-Naïve Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients: A Physiological Mechanism to Cope With the Severity of Airway Obstruction in an Observational Study

Drug-naïve COPD patients have significantly higher sympathovagal dominance in comparison to the apparently healthy control population. Their sympathovagal dominance is inversely correlated with their spirometry parameters. In the control population, sympathovagal dominance is also inversely correlated with spirometry parameters; however, to a lesser extent. This implies that greater sympathovagal dominance is produced to combat an increasing degree of airway obstruction.