## 4 Discussion
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Group**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Resting HRV**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**HRV in**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**HRV Valsalva**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**HRV Handgrip**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**HRV Standing**} \\  & & & & **Breathing** & & & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Total sample} & CRP & \(-0.160\); \(p\) = 0.196 & \(-0.027\); \(p\) = 0.853 & \(-0.258\); \(p\) = 0.040 & \(-0.006\); \(p\) = 0.967 & \(-0.325\); \(p\) = 0.007 \\  & IL1\(\beta\) & \(-0.110\); \(p\) = 0.472 & \(0.020\); \(p\) = 0.877 & \(0.258\); \(p\) = 0.051 & \(-0.092\); \(p\) = 0.533 & \(0.079\); \(p\) = 0.546 \\  & IL4 & \(0.109\); \(p\) = 0.490 & \(0.258\); \(p\) = 0.126 & \(0.211\); \(p\) = 0.112 & \(-0.099\); \(p\) = 0.437 & \(0.304\); \(p\) = 0.032 \\  & IL6 & \(-0.261\); \(p\) = 0.043 & \(-0.106\); \(p\) = 0.426 & \(-0.060\); \(p\) = 0.650 & \(-0.193\); \(p\) = 0.134 & \(-0.148\); \(p\) = 0.302 \\  & IL10 & \(-0.193\); \(p\) = 0.227 & \(-0.025\); \(p\) = 0.886 & \(-0.006\); \(p\) = 0.963 & \(0.003\); \(p\) = 0.983 & \(0.143\); \(p\) = 0.320 \\  & TNFa & \(0.039\); \(p\) = 0.766 & \(-0.158\); \(p\) = 0.296 & \(-0.110\); \(p\) = 0.432 & \(0.124\); \(p\) = 0.423 & \(-0.245\); \(p\) = 0.103 \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Only infection} & CRP & \(-0.427\); \(p\) = 0.123 & \(-0.357\); \(p\) = 0.235 & \(-0.517\); \(p\) = 0.032 & \(-0.105\); \(p\) = 0.704 & \(-0.490\); \(p\) = 0.034 \\  & IL1\(\beta\) & \(0.218\); \(p\) = 0.175 & \(0.218\); \(p\) = 0.159 & \(0.306\); \(p\) = 0.044 & \(0.044\); \(p\) = 0.808 & \(0.306\); \(p\) = 0.052 \\  & IL4 & \(0.261\); \(p\) = 0.431 & \(0.220\); \(p\) = 0.509 & \(0.306\); \(p\) = 0.368 & \(-0.410\); \(p\) = 0.151 & \(0.328\); \(p\) = 0.259 \\  & IL6 & \(-0.315\); \(p\) = 0.330 & \(-0.406\); \(p\) = 0.226 & \(-0.273\); \(p\) = 0.380 & \(-0.042\); \(p\) = 0.909 & \(-0.448\); \(p\) = 0.071 \\  & IL10 & \(-0.268\); \(p\) = 0.415 & \(0.094\); \(p\) = 0.779 & \(0.022\); \(p\) = 0.949 & \(-0.076\); \(p\) = 0.830 & \(0.087\); \(p\) = 0.786 \\  & TNFa & \(-0.336\); \(p\) = 0.334 & \(-0.189\); \(p\) = 0.558 & \(-0.308\); \(p\) = 0.333 & \(0.242\); \(p\) = 0.446 & \(-0.287\); \(p\) = 0.340 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
* Data presented are the within-subject Spearman’s rho and \(p\)-value.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: [PERSON]’s correlation coefficients and \(p\)-values for the week 1 within-subject association between the heart-rate variability (HRV) and inflammatory markers \({}^{1}\). therapy. In addition to this, a number of studies have shown that persistently higher levels of IL6 lead to worse clinical outcomes [53; 54]. The kinetics of the IL6 profile post-bacterial infection cannot be clearly defined as other factors related to the inflammatory response and the host response to the antibiotics need to be considered. However, what seems to be clear is that the levels of IL6 should decrease by week 1, post-antibiotic therapy and most definitely 6 weeks later. In addition to this, and considering that IL6 is a potent CRP secretion inducer, the CRP is also known to decrease exponentially post-acute infection and once the stimuli for its secretion ends [46]. It is interesting to note that, although the TNF\(\alpha\) and IL-1 did not show statistically significant correlations with the HRV, the trend and direction of those correlations were generally negative when the parameters were evaluated for week 1 in the infection group. This would make sense as those biomarkers have also been observed to be elevated in the presence of autonomic dysfunction [4; 14]. On the other hand, this negative trend was not fully appreciated when the within-subject associations were evaluated for IL1 and HRV in the infection group. Some limitations of the present work should be acknowledged. First, the sample size of the study is small and that may limit the power to detect some correlations as statically significant. However, some comparisons were sufficiently powered as some statistically significant results were obtained.