An Overview of Heart Rate Variability Metrics and Norms
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 28 September 2017
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Frontiers Media SA in Frontiers in Public Health
- Vol. 5, 258
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00258
Abstract
Healthy biological systems exhibit complex patterns of variability that can be described by mathematical chaos. Heart rate variability (HRV) consists of changes in the time intervals between consecutive heartbeats, called interbeat intervals (IBIs). A healthy heart is not a metronome. The oscillations of a healthy heart are complex and constantly changing, which allow the cardiovascular system to rapidly adjust to sudden physical and psychological challenges to homeostasis. This article briefly reviews current perspectives on the mechanisms that generate 24 h, short-term (~5 min), and ultra-short-term (< 5 min) HRV, the importance of HRV, and its implications for health and performance. The authors provide an overview of widely-used HRV time domain, frequency, and nonlinear metrics. Time-domain indices quantify the amount of HRV observed during monitoring periods that may range from ~2 min to 24 h. Frequency-domain values calculate the absolute or relative amount of signal energy within component bands. Nonlinear measurements quantify the unpredictability and complexity of a series of IBIs. The authors survey published normative values for clinical, healthy, and optimal performance populations. They stress the importance of measurement context, including recording period length, subject age, and sex, on baseline HRV values. They caution that 24 h, short-term, and ultra-short-term normative values are not interchangeable. They encourage professionals to supplement published norms with findings from their own specialized populations. Finally, the authors provide an overview of HRV assessment strategies for clinical and optimal performance interventions.Keywords
This publication has 120 references indexed in Scilit:
- Variations in circadian heart rate in psychiatric disorders: theoretical and practical implicationsChronoPhysiology and Therapy, 2013
- The LF/HF ratio does not accurately measure cardiac sympatho-vagal balanceFrontiers in Physiology, 2013
- Heart rate variability in normal and pathological sleepFrontiers in Physiology, 2013
- Role of editing of R–R intervals in the analysis of heart rate variabilityFrontiers in Physiology, 2012
- Low-frequency power of heart rate variability is not a measure of cardiac sympathetic tone but may be a measure of modulation of cardiac autonomic outflows by baroreflexesExperimental Physiology, 2011
- Sympathetic and parasympathetic activity in cancer-related fatigue: More evidence for a physiological substrate in cancer survivorsPsychoneuroendocrinology, 2011
- RMSSD, a measure of vagus-mediated heart rate variability, is associated with risk factors for SUDEP: The SUDEP-7 InventoryEpilepsy & Behavior, 2010
- Efficient and cost‐effective estimation of the influence of respiratory variables on respiratory sinus arrhythmiaPsychophysiology, 2010
- Decreased heart rate variability is associated with higher levels of inflammation in middle-aged menAmerican Heart Journal, 2008
- Heart rate variability and markers of inflammation and coagulation in depressed patients with coronary heart diseaseJournal of Psychosomatic Research, 2007