Fractal scaling properties in nonstationary heartbeat time series

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.51000· OSTI ID:397383

Peng, C ^[1]; Havlin, S ^[2]; Stanley, H E ^[2]; Goldberger, A L ^[1]

---

1. Cardiovascular Division, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)
2. Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 (United States)

Under healthy conditions, the normal cardiac (sinus) interbeat interval fluctuates in a complex manner. Quantitative analysis using techniques adapted from statistical physics reveals the presence of long-range power-law correlations extending over thousands of heartbeats. This scale-invariant (fractal) behavior suggests that the regulatory system generating these fluctuations is operating far from equilibrium. In contrast, we find that for subjects at high risk of sudden death (e.g. congestive heart failure patients) these long-range correlations break down. Application of fractal scaling analysis and related techniques provides new approaches to assessing cardiac risk and forecasting sudden cardiac death, as well as motivating development of novel physiological models of systems that appear to be {open_quote}{open_quote}hetero-dynamic{close_quote}{close_quote} rather than {open_quote}{open_quote}homeo-static.{close_quote}{close_quote} {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 397383
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 375, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1996
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
HEART
TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
FRACTALS
SCALE INVARIANCE
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
MEDICINE
FORECASTING
CHAOTIC SYSTEMS
DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS