Abstract

Introduction: Cardiovascular autonomic modulation can be considered a useful tool in determining the physiological state of the interaction between the autonomic nervous system and the cardiovascular system. Objective: To determine the differences in linear parameters of the basal autonomic balance between medical students and young baseball players. Method: A cross-sectional analytical study was carried out in the Biomedical Basic Sciences Laboratory, Faculty No.1, of the Universidad de Ciencias Médicas in Santiago de Cuba. The population and sample consisted of 36 individuals (Group 1: 18 high-performance young baseball athletes, Group 2: 18 medical students). Data was collected using an 8-channel PowerLab polygraph and it was processed using the Kubios® Software version 3.0.4 Premium. Results: There were significant differences in the values between students and athletes: pNN50 (p=0.009), stress index (p=0.044) and in parasympathetic (p=0.005) and sympathetic (p=0.001) indexes. The discriminatory ability of the parasympathetic index to be associated with the best physical fitness of the athletes was good (area under the curve 0.784). The optimum cut-off point above which the parasympathetic index is associated with the group of athletes was set at 0.57. Conclusions: The parasympathetic index was associated with the group of athletes, showing the vagal predominance in the modulation of cardiac activity in the individuals belonging to this group.