Abstract
Diminished heart rate variability is associated with high sympathetic tone and an increased mortality rate in heart failure cases. We constructed Poincaré plots of each sinus R-R interval plotted against the subsequent R-R interval from 24-hour Holter recordings of 24 healthy subjects (control group) and 24 patients with heart failure. Every subject in the control group had a comet-shaped Poincaré plot resulting from an increase in beat-to-beat dispersion as heart rate slowed. No patient with heart failure had this comet-shaped pattern. Instead, three distinctive patterns were identified: (1) a torpedo-shaped pattern resulting from low R-R interval dispersion over the entire range of heart rates, (2) a fanshaped pattern resulting from restriction of overall R-R interval ranges with enhanced dispersion, and (3) complex patterns with clusters of points characteristic of stepwise changes in R-R intervals. Poincaré pattern could not be predicted from standard deviations of R-R intervals. This first use of Poincaré plots in heart rate variability analysis reveals a complexity not readily perceived from standard deviation information. Further study is warranted to determine if this method will allow refined assessment of cardiac-autonomic integrity in heart failure, which could help identify patients at highest risk for sudden death.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 704-710 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | American Heart Journal |
Volume | 123 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 1992 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Division of Cardiology, the Department Institute, University in part by a grant by the Audrienne UCLA School of Medicine, of Anatomy and Cell Biology, of California, Los Angeles. from the Gamma Tau Chapter H. Moseley Scholar Award,
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine