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World J Hepatol. Jul 27, 2025; 17(7): 106291
Published online Jul 27, 2025. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v17.i7.106291
Heart rate variability in the clinical assessment of patients with chronic liver disease
Nicolás Bustos, Flavia Giubergia, Cristóbal Mora, Christian Lara, Álvaro Urzúa, Máximo Cattaneo, Jaime Poniachik, Daniela B Vera, Abraham IJ Gajardo
Nicolás Bustos, Flavia Giubergia, Cristóbal Mora, Abraham IJ Gajardo, Program of Pathophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380453, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Christian Lara, Álvaro Urzúa, Máximo Cattaneo, Jaime Poniachik, Daniela B Vera, Section of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380456, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Abraham IJ Gajardo, Intensive Care Unit, Department of Medicine, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago 8380456, Region Metropolitana, Chile
Author contributions: Urzúa A, Cattaneo M, Poniachik J, Vera DB and Gajardo AIJ contributed to the conceptualization and design of this review; Giubergia F, Bustos N, Mora C, Lara C and Gajardo AIJ performed the data/evidence acquisition and interpretation; Cattaneo M, Bustos N, Mora C, Lara C and Gajardo AIJ drafting the manuscript; Urzúa A, Cattaneo M, Poniachik J, Vera DB and Gajardo AIJ critically reviewed the manuscript making significant intellectual contributions. All the authors approved the final version of this manuscript.
Supported by National Agency of Research and Development (ANID), Government of Chile (https://anid.cl/about-us/), through the Initiation in Research FONDECYT grant No. 11241548.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Abraham IJ Gajardo, MD, PhD, Professor, Program of Pathophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Chile, Independencia 1027, Casilla 70058, Santiago 8380453, Region Metropolitana, Chile. aij.gajardo@gmail.com
Received: February 21, 2025
Revised: April 10, 2025
Accepted: June 10, 2025
Published online: July 27, 2025
Processing time: 154 Days and 9.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Autonomic dysfunction (AD) is common in cirrhotic patients and is linked to poor outcomes. Heart rate variability (HRV), a noninvasive measure of autonomic balance, could be useful in managing chronic liver disease (CLD) patients. This article explores AD mechanisms, HRV assessment, and its diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic relevance in CLD, including liver transplantation.