Journal List > Korean J Health Promot > v.17(4) > 1089926

Choi, Lee, Jeong, and Lee: Minimum Measurement Time Affecting the Reliability of the Heart Rate Variability Analysis

Abstract

Background

Heart rate variability (HRV) test is in widely used for measurement of autonomic nerve system. Although the standard measurement time for short-term HRV analysis is regarded as 5 minutes, it could be varied depending on the clinical situation. Thus, we examined that the valid minimum measurement time for HRV through comparison of HRV among 10 segments per 30 seconds from 30 seconds to 300 seconds.

Methods

The study included 1,457 adult participants who visited the health promotion center in Seoul, Korea from the March 2009 to December 2012. The variables of the time domain and frequency domain analysis of HRV among 10 segments from 30 seconds to 300 seconds were compared using one-way ANOVA test with post-hoc analysis.

Results

Compared with 5-minute (300 seconds) HRV, the components of HRV measurement were statistically equal in condition with 180 seconds for standard deviation of all normal-to-normal interval (SDNN), 270 seconds for NN50, 180 seconds for total power, 180 seconds for low frequency power in normalized units (LFn), and 180 seconds for high frequency power in normalized units (HFn), respectively.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that the minimum duration of HRV measurement might be more or than 180 seconds.

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Age distribution of the study population

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Values are presented as mean ± standard deviation.

Table 2

Index of heart rate variability

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Table 3

Comparison of heart rate variability among 10 segments per 30 seconds from 30 seconds to 300 seconds

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Abbreviations: mRR, mean R-R interval; mHR, mean heart rate; SDNN, standard deviation of all NN interval; RMSSD, root mean square differences of successive R-R intervals; NN50, number of pairs of adjacent NN intervals differing by more than 50 ms in the entire recording; pNN50, NN50 count divided by the total number of all NN interval; VLF, very low frequency; LF, low frequency; HF, high frequency; TP, total power, LFn, LF power in normalized units; HFn, HF power in normalized units.

aP values were calculated using 1-way ANOVA test.

Table 4

Results of post-hoc analysis of ANOVA among 10 segments per 30 seconds from 30 seconds to 300 seconds

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Abbreviations: mRR, mean R-R interval; mHR, mean heart rate; SDNN, standard deviation of all NN interval; RMSSD, root mean square differences of successive R-R intervals; N50, number of pairs of adjacent NN intervals differing by more than 50 ms in the entire recording; pNN50, NN50 count divided by the total number of all NN interval; VLF, very low frequency; LF, low frequency; HF, high frequency; TP, total power, LFn, LF power in normalized units; HFn, HF power in normalized units.

Values are presented as P-values by post-hoc Tukey test.

aP value >0.05 by post-hoc Tukey test.

Table 5

Results of minimum measurement time for heart rate variability

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Abbreviations: mRR, mean R-R interval; mHR, mean heart rate; SDNN, standard deviation of all NN interval; RMSSD, root mean square differences of successive R-R intervals; NN50, number of pairs of adjacent NN intervals differing by more than 50 ms in the entire recording; pNN50, NN50 count divided by the total number of all NN interval; VLF, very low frequency; LF, low frequency; HF, high frequency; TP, total power, LFn, LF power in normalized units; HFn, HF power in normalized units.

aP values were calculated using 1-way ANOVA test (mRR, mHR, RMSSD, pNN50, LF, LF/HF) and post-hoc Tukey test (SDNN, NN50, VLF, HF, TP, LFn, HFn).

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