Pitfalls of assessment of autonomic function by heart rate variability
Open accessAbstract
Although analysis of heart rate variability is widely used for the assessment of autonomic function, its fundamental framework linking low-frequency and high-frequency components of heart rate variability with sympathetic and parasympathetic autonomic divisions has developed in the 1980s. This simplified framework is no longer able to deal with much evidence about heart rate variability accumulated over the past half-century. This review addresses the pitfalls caused by the old framework and discusses the points that need attention in autonomic assessment by heart rate variability.
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Short and long recording periods can represent different facets of ANS function.
“Pooling of data was based on length of HRV recording, separating studies according to short or long recording periods because these measures can represent different facets of ANS function (27,28).”
From Alterations in Heart Rate Variability Associated With Irritable Bowel Syndrome or Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [28]
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Cites
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The LF/HF ratio does not accurately measure cardiac sympatho-vagal balance
Billman, G. E. (2013) · Frontiers in Physiology · doi:10.3389/fphys.2013.00026 · Cited by 1,401 · see citing works
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Borovac, J. A., D'Amario, D., Bozic, J., & Glavas, D. (2020) · World Journal of Cardiology · doi:10.4330/wjc.v12.i8.373 · Cited by 195 · see citing works
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“Especially spectral analysis of beat-to-beat intervals, assessing the band power of low-frequency (LF; 0.04–0.15 Hz) and high-frequency (HF; 0.15–0.4 Hz), are used as matrices of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (Hayano and Yuda, 2019).”
MethodInfluentialSadowski, A., Dunlap, C., Lacombe, A., & Hanes, D. (2021) · Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology · doi:10.14309/ctg.0000000000000275 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
“Caution is strongly advised when using metrics developed to measure neuronal functions of the heart to noncardiac health outcomes (28).”
Background
- Authors
- Hayano, J., & Yuda, E.
- Affiliations
- Nagoya City University (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Hayano, Junichiro
- Venue
- Journal of Physiological Anthropology
- Published
- 2019-03-13
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 3-3
- ISSN
- 1880-6791 (ISSN-L)
- 1880-6805
- PMC
- PMC6416928
- OpenAlex
- W2942459206
- Cited by
- 349
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 53 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 67 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 44 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 6
- FWCI
- 6.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of PHYSIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring
- Keywords
- heart rate variability, autonomic function testing, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, low-frequency and high-frequency components, sympathovagal balance
- MeSH terms
- Autonomic Nervous System, Electrocardiography, Female, Heart Rate, Humans, Male, Monitoring, Physiologic, Posture, Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted, Spectrum Analysis, Accelerometry, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia
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