Eighty-four competitive athletes were subjected to cardiologic examinations which included the assessment of heart rate variability (HRV) from 24 h ECG records by Holter's method. Among the factors influencing the HRV indices, gender and training experience were found to play the most important role, age and the sport practised being of a lesser importance. A long-lasting physical training may lead, especially in athletes, to an increase in the global HRV reflected by some temporal indices, variability dependent on chemoreceptor activity (VLF band), and that dependent on autonomous system - especially its sympathetic component (LF band). Measurements of HRV indices may be helpful in the assessment of adaptive changes in the autonomous system of competitive athletes as induced by physical loads.
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