Heart rate variability to monitor performance in elite athletes: Criticalities and avoidable pitfalls

International Journal of Cardiology
Daniela LuciniMassimo Pagani

Abstract

Spectral analysis of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) is a simple, non-invasive technique that is widely used in sport to assess sympatho-vagal regulation of the heart. Its employment is increasing partly due to the rising usage of wearable devices. However data acquisition using these devices may be suboptimal because they cannot discriminate between sinus and non-sinus beats and do not record any data regarding respiratory frequency. This information is mandatory for a correct clinical interpretation. This study involved 974 elite athletes, all of them underwent a complete autonomic assessment, by way of Autoregressive HRV analysis. In 91 subjects (9% of the total population) we observed criticalities of either cardiac rhythm or respiration. Through perusal of one-lead ECG analysis we observed that 77 subjects had atrial or ventricular ectopy, i.e. conditions which impair stationarity and sinus rhythm. Running anyway autonomic nervous system analysis in this population, we observed that RR variance and raw values of LF and HF regions are significantly higher in arrhythmic subjects. In addition 14 subjects had slow (about 6 breath/min, 0.1Hz) respiration. This condition clouds the separation between LF from HF spectral regions of ...Continue Reading

Citations

Feb 17, 2018·European Journal of Applied Physiology·Daniela LuciniMassimo Pagani
Feb 14, 2019·European Journal of Preventive Cardiology·Gianluigi OggionniDaniela Lucini
Mar 18, 2020·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Daniela LuciniMassimo Pagani
May 10, 2018·Frontiers in Physiology·Daniela LuciniMassimo Pagani
May 23, 2019·Frontiers in Physiology·Nadia SolaroDaniela Lucini
Mar 18, 2020·International Journal of Cardiology·Daniela Lucini, Massimo Pagani
Dec 14, 2019·Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering·Daniel WittJessilyn Dunn

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