A new method to detect erratic sinus rhythm in RR-interval files generated from Holter recordings

• Published in: Computers in Cardiology pp. 665 - 668
• Main Authors: Domitrovich, P.P., Stein, P.K.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2002
• Subjects: Frequency domain analysis; Heart rate; Heart rate variability; Hospitals; Neural networks; Paramagnetic resonance; Rhythm; Senior citizens; Spectral analysis; Testing
• DOI: 10.1109/CIC.2002.1166860
• ISBN: 9780780377356; 0780377354
• ISSN: 0276-6547

Episodes of erratic sinus rhythm (ESR), assumed to be as a high-degree of non-respiratory sinus arrhythmia with normal p-waves, are seen on Holter recordings in the elderly and cardiac patients. ESR increases heart rate variability (HRV) and may confound its predictive value. We hypothesized that a triplet of normal-to-normal (NN) intervals represented by (N/sub 1/N/sub 2/N/sub 3/N/sub 4/) is ESR if N/sub 1/N/sub 2//N/sub 2/N/sub 3/ and N/sub 2/N/sub 3//N/sub 3/N/sub 4/ are both outliers in the distribution of NN-interval ratios. The time spent in ESR in each ten-minute segment was visually estimated using a heart-rate tachogram of NN intervals (HRTACH) and compared with the calculated values. A total of 858 ten-minute segments in six randomly selected 24-Hour recordings of older adults were examined. A qualitative test of the algorithm yielded a positive predictive value of 0.83 and a negative predictive value of 0.87 for 552 positive tests. Results suggest that the method can identify subjects with and without ESR in RR-interval files.