Precursors of syncope in linear and non-linear parameters of heart rate variability during pediatric head-up tilt...

The aim of this study was to identify precursors of neurocardiogenic syncope (NCS) in ECG parameters of children and adolescents who undergo head-up tilt testing (HUTT). Established linear and non-linear parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) were calculated minute-by-minute in 44 young patients with an NCS history (age 7-20 years, 22 female, 22 male, positive HUTT) and 34 age-matched healthy controls (age 7-20 years, 17 female, 17 male, negative HUTT) during 60 degrees HUTT. The influence of age and gender on the response to tilting was studied using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. We also assessed the predictive power of individual features with respect to HUTT outcome within three temporal windows (0-2 min after tilt; 2-5 min after tilt, and 5-2 min before tilt-back) by means of receiver operating characteristics analysis. Our results indicate that prediction of HUTT outcome should be restricted to subjects in or after puberty. In this group, descriptors based on co-occurrence or joint-recurrence analysis in recurrence plots showed promising predictive power (up to 86% sensitivity and 90% specificity, area under the curve 0.91). Time-domain parameters (standard deviation of differences for successive RR intervals) reached 75% sensitivity and 80% specificity. We conclude that HRV analysis within the first 5 min after tilting provides significant information on HUTT outcome and may be useful in conjunction with more sophisticated classification strategies for shortening HUTT duration in subjects after puberty.