Background: To detect an early increase in the inflammatory response might prove to be vital for mitigating the deleterious effects of the disease over time.
Cases: A 52-year-old obese man with moderate asthma and hypertension, who developed COVID-19 and had moderate symptoms, used a wearable device to record heart rate variability (HRV) during his illness. He had low parasympathetic tone, which decreased daily until it reached almost 2 standard deviations (SD) below normal values at the end of the second week. His sympathetic tone increased from > 3 SD to > 5 SD.
Conclusions: Conclusions: These findings suggest an altered modulation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in COVID-19, such that the sympathetic tone is augmented and the parasympathetic tone is reduced. Population norms of COVID-19 infections should be further studied over the short-term and using 24 h HRV measurements.
Keywords: Ambulatory monitoring; Autonomic nervous system; COVID-19; Computer-assisted signal processing; Heart rate; Wearable electronic devices..