Spectral components of heart rate variability determined by wavelet analysis

• Published in: Physiological measurement Vol. 21; no. 4; pp. 441 - 457
• Main Authors: Lotric, Maja Bracic, Stefanovska, Aneta, Stajer, Dusan, Urbancic-Rovan, Vilma
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England IOP Publishing 01.11.2000
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - physiopathology; Diabetic Angiopathies - physiopathology; Diabetic Neuropathies - physiopathology; Diabetic Retinopathy - physiopathology; Electrocardiography; Female; Fourier Analysis; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Hypertension - physiopathology; Male; Middle Aged; Myocardial Infarction - physiopathology; Reference Values; Respiratory Mechanics; Software
• ISSN: 0967-3334; 1361-6579
• DOI: 10.1088/0967-3334/21/4/302

Spectral components of heart rate variability (HRV) are determined in the time-frequency domain using a wavelet transform. Based on the finer estimation of low-frequency content enabled by the logarithmic resolution of the wavelet transform, corrections of spectral intervals, already defined by Fourier and model based methods, are proposed. The characteristic peaks between 0.0095 and 0.6 Hz are traced in time and four spectral intervals are defined, I (0.0095-0.021 Hz), II (0.021-0.052 Hz), III (0.052-0.145 Hz) and IV (0.145-0.6 Hz), within which peaks are located for all subjects included. These intervals are shown to be invariant regardless of the age and the state of the system. We also show that the frequency and power of the spectral components are related to age, AMI and particularly to type II diabetes mellitus.