Assessing heart rate variability through wavelet-based statistical measures

Because of its utility in the investigation and diagnosis of clinical abnormalities, heart rate variability (HRV) has been quantified with both time and frequency analysis tools. Recently, time-frequency methods, especially wavelet transforms, have been applied to HRV. In the current study, a complementary computational approach is proposed wherein continuous wavelet transforms are applied directly to ECG signals to quantify time-varying frequency changes in the lower bands. Such variations are compared for resting and lower body negative pressure (LBNP) conditions using statistical and information-theoretic measures, and compared with standard HRV metrics. The latter confirm the expected lower variability in the LBNP condition due to sympathetic nerve activity (e.g. RMSSD: p=0.023; SDSD: p=0.023; LF/HF: p=0.018). Conversely, using the standard Morlet wavelet and a new transform based on windowed complex sinusoids, wavelet analysis of the ECG within the observed range of heart rate (0.5-1.25Hz) exhibits significantly higher variability, as measured by frequency band roughness (Morlet CWT: p=0.041), entropy (Morlet CWT: p=0.001), and approximate entropy (Morlet CWT: p=0.004). Consequently, this paper proposes that, when used with well-established HRV approaches, time-frequency analysis of ECG can provide additional insights into the complex phenomenon of heart rate variability.