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. 2016 Oct 24;11(10):e0165034. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165034

Table 2. Heart rate variability (HF, LF, LF/HF and TP) pre and post ingestion of either placebo or caffeine supplementation in able-bodied, paraplegic and tetraplegic participants in supine and sitting position.

Placebo Caffeine Δ p-value
Pre Post Pre Post
HF (supine) [ms2]
    AB 723 [23; 3724] 1044 [25; 7154]* 689 [171; 5862] 1442 [168; 4517] 0.31
    P 239 [20; 3376] 566 [60; 6092]* 487 [27; 1767] 659 [26; 2744] 0.07
    T 757 [85; 6745] 784 [247; 4265] 848 [36; 2380] 666 [211; 3598] 0.87
HF (sitting) [ms2]
    AB 1005 [19; 6088] 1341 [16; 5426] 415 [56; 7119] 1110 [136; 7039] 0.75
    P 162 [23; 4670] 513 [29; 6971]* 373 [34; 1882] 465 [11; 2157] 0.038§
    T 323 [17; 824] 477 [251; 2877] 275 [19; 2553] 508 [222; 2595] 0.61
LF (supine) [ms2]
    AB 741 [124; 2477] 900 [99; 2581]* 375 [108; 3226] 789 [135; 3604]* 0.08
    P 196 [53; 1865] 564 [42; 2803] 472 [69; 1272] 200 [40; 1612] 0.07
    T 151 [14; 1180] 243 [87; 1549] 673 [10; 1018] 359 [126; 588] 0.13
LF (sitting) [ms2]
    AB 1064 [88; 2325] 891 [147; 3063] 747 [107; 4384] 1037 [89; 4228] 0.48
    P 357 [56; 3651] 1025 [77; 3136] 432 [95, 1730] 334 [35; 2622] 0.09
    T 247 [2; 1089] 363 [42; 1126] 281 [16; 967] 313 [68; 648] 0.50
LF/HF (supine)
    AB 1.08 [0.17; 5.31] 0.66 [0.18; 3.90] 0.72 [0.10; 1.01] 0.65 [0.15; 2.8] 0.31
    P 0.90 [0.19; 13.10] 0.70 [0.29; 6.68] 0.70 [0.46; 9.65] 0.59 [0.24; 1.80] 0.95
    T 0.25 [0.17; 0.87] 0.51 [0.18; 0.70] 0.80 [0.14; 2.75] 0.43 [0.10; 1.29] 0.31
LF/HF (sitting)
    AB 1.57 [0.21; 4.55] 1.21 [0.36; 9.06] 1.27 [0.29, 7.18] 0.63 [0.25; 3.81] 0.39
    P 1.56 [0.60; 7.83] 1.68 [0.45; 5.06] 0.98 [0.45; 12.68] 0.57 [0.19; 6.39]* 0.37
    T 0.44 [0.10; 1.41] 0.76 [0.07; 1.73] 0.83 [0.38; 1.95] 0.56 [0.13; 1.09] 0.61
TP (supine) [ms2]
    AB 1591 [180; 5938] 1901 [149; 9851]* 1159 [340; 8000] 3014 [401; 8265]* 0.53
    P 437 [98; 5472] 1291 [106; 8391]* 1014 [189; 3120] 934 [78; 4566] 0.038§
    T 951 [104; 7970] 1320 [442; 5894] 1346 [53; 3449] 942 [358; 4000] 0.87
TP (sitting) [ms2]
    AB 2158 [111; 7538] 2172 [167; 8444] 1394 [186; 11733] 2589 [264; 11739] 0.75
    P 634 [88; 9462] 1946 [189; 10507]* 1094 [264; 3743] 1159 [95; 4934] 0.015§
    T 663 [30; 2024] 856 [341; 4180] 611 [36; 3582] 668 [473; 3221] 0.61

AB = able-bodied participants; P = paraplegic participants, T = tetraplegic participants; HF = high frequency power; LF = low frequency power; LF/HF = ratio between LF and HF; TP = total power

* significant change from pre to post ingestion (p < 0.05)

§ significant difference between the changes in the placebo and the caffeine trial (p < 0.05)

Δ p-value = p-value comparing the difference between pre and post measurement of the placebo trial with the difference from the caffeine trials