Nonlinear methods of biosignal analysis in assessing terbutaline-induced heart rate and blood pressure changes

The aim of this study was to characterize how different nonlinear methods characterize heart rate and blood pressure dynamics in healthy subjects at rest. The randomized, placebo-controlled crossover study with intravenous terbutaline was designed to induce four different stationary states of cardiovascular regulation system. The R-R interval, systolic arterial blood pressure, and heart rate time series were analyzed with a set of methods including approximate entropy, sample entropy, Lempel-Ziv entropy, symbol dynamic entropy, cross-entropy, correlation dimension, fractal dimensions, and stationarity test. Results indicate that R-R interval and systolic arterial pressure subsystems are mutually connected but have different dynamic properties. In the drug-free state the subsystems share many common features. When the strength of the baroreflex feedback loop is modified with terbutaline, R-R interval and systolic blood pressure lose mutual synchrony and drift toward their inherent state of operation. In this state the R-R interval system is rather complex and irregular, but the blood pressure system is much simpler than in the drug-free state.