Summary: Physica A 274 (1999) 99­110
www.elsevier.com/locate/physa
Application of statistical physics to
heartbeat diagnosis
S. Havlina;b;
, L.A.N. Amaralb
, Y. Ashkenazya
, A.L. Goldbergerc
,
P.Ch. Ivanovb;c
, C.-K. Pengb;c
, H.E. Stanleyb
aGonda-Goldschmied Center, Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
bCenter for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
cCardiovascular Division, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, MA 02215, USA
Abstract
We present several recent studies based on statistical physics concepts that can be used as
diagnostic tools for heart failure. We describe the scaling exponent characterizing the long-range
correlations in heartbeat time series as well as the multifractal features recently discovered in
heartbeat rhythm. It is found that both features, the long-range correlations and the multifractility,

Source: Ashkenazy, Yossi "Yosef" - Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research,Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Harvard University, Margret & H. A. Rey Institute for Nonlinear Dynamics in Medicine
Stanley, H. Eugene - Department of Physics, Boston University

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