Reproducibility of heart rate variability from short-term recordings during five manoeuvres in normal subjects

Due to limited and contradictory information available, the reproducibility of temporal and spectral measurements of heart rate variability from short-term recordings was evaluated in normal subjects during supine, controlled breathing, standing, exercise and recovery conditions.

Five-minute tachograms from 11 individuals were obtained during the specified manoeuvres, and repeated three times in a five day period. Besides temporal and spectral indexes, the central frequencies were also computed.

The ANOVA presented non-significant differences among the repetitions for any of the parameters studied. Most intra-class correlation coefficients were over 0.68. The central frequency of the low component diminished during the manoeuvres.

In healthy individuals, the temporal and spectral measurements of the heart rate variability from short-term records are stable in a five day period for the manoeuvres studied. Central frequencies of the spectral components might be used as indexes of the autonomic activity.