| Title | Fractal dimension in health and heart failure. | ||
| Author | Beckers, Frank; Verheyden, Bart; Couckuyt, Kurt; Aubert, Andre E | ||
| Journal | Biomed Tech (Berl) | Publication Year/Month | 2006-Oct |
| PMID | 17061937 | PMCID | -N/A- |
| Affiliation | 1.Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium. frank.beckers@med.kuleuven.be. | ||
BACKGROUND: Non-linear analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) can give additional information about autonomic control of the heart rate. This study applied the fractal dimension (FD) in a congestive heart failure (CHF) population. METHODS: FD and HRV were evaluated in a healthy population (n=21) and an end-stage heart failure population (n=21) using 1-h segments during the day and night from Holter recordings. RESULTS: CHF patients presented a loss of circadian variation in both FD and conventional time- and frequency-domain HRV indices. FD was higher in the CHF population both during the day and night. In the CHF population the correlation between FD and high-frequency power of HRV was lost. CONCLUSION: Day-night variations of heart rate fluctuations are lost in heart failure. Changes in FD reflecting physiological and pathophysiological changes were observed.