Heart Rate Variability and Non-Linear Dynamics in Risk Stratification

The time-domain measures and power-spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) are classic conventional methods to assess the complex regulatory system between autonomic nervous system and heart rate and are most widely used. There are abundant scientific data about the prognostic significance of the conventional measurements of HRV in patients with various conditions, particularly with myocardial infarction. Some studies have suggested that some newer measures describing non-linear dynamics of heart rate, such as fractal measures, may reveal prognostic information beyond that obtained by the conventional measures of HRV. An ideal risk indicator could specifically predict sudden arrhythmic death as the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy can prevent such events. There are numerically more sudden deaths among post-infarction patients with better preserved left ventricular function than in those with severe left ventricular dysfunction. Recent data support the concept that HRV measurements, when analyzed several weeks after acute myocardial infarction, predict life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias in patients with moderately depressed left ventricular function. However, well-designed prospective randomized studies are needed to evaluate whether the ICD therapy based on the assessment of HRV alone or with other risk indicators improves the patients' prognosis. Several issues, such as the optimal target population, optimal timing of HRV measurements, optimal methods of HRV analysis, and optimal cutpoints for different HRV parameters, need clarification before the HRV analysis can be a widespread clinical tool in risk stratification.