Point process time-frequency analysis of respiratory sinus arrhythmia under altered respiration dynamics

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) is largely mediated by the autonomic nervous system through its modulating influence on the heartbeat. We propose an algorithm for quantifying instantaneous RSA as applied to heart beat interval and respiratory recordings under dynamic respiration conditions. The blood volume pressure derived heart beat series (pulse intervals, PI) are modeled as an inverse gaussian point process, with the instantaneous mean PI modeled as a bivariate regression incorporating both past PI and respiration values observed at the beats. A point process maximum likelihood algorithm is used to estimate the model parameters, and instantaneous RSA is estimated by a frequency domain transfer function approach. The model is statistically validated using Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) goodness-of-fit analysis, as well as independence tests. The algorithm is applied to subjects engaged in meditative practice, with distinctive dynamics in the respiration patterns elicited as a result. Experimental results confirm the ability of the algorithm to track important changes in cardiorespiratory interactions elicited during meditation, otherwise not evidenced in control resting states.

[1]  B. Womack The analysis of respiratory sinus arrhythmia using spectral analysis and digital filtering. , 1971, IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering.

[2]  J. Hirsch,et al.  Respiratory sinus arrhythmia in humans: how breathing pattern modulates heart rate. , 1981, The American journal of physiology.

[3]  D L Eckberg,et al.  Human sinus arrhythmia as an index of vagal cardiac outflow. , 1983, Journal of applied physiology: respiratory, environmental and exercise physiology.

[4]  J. Saul,et al.  Transfer function analysis of autonomic regulation. II. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia. , 1989, The American journal of physiology.

[5]  Sheldon M. Ross,et al.  Introduction to Probability Models (4th ed.). , 1990 .

[6]  M. N. Levy,et al.  Vagal Control of the Heart: Experimental Basis and Clinical Implications , 1994 .

[7]  Sheldon M. Ross Introduction to Probability Models. , 1995 .

[8]  A. Malliani,et al.  Heart rate variability. Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation, and clinical use , 1996 .

[9]  G. Breithardt,et al.  Heart rate variability: standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. , 1996 .

[10]  Sergio Cerutti,et al.  Continuous Quantification of Baroreflex and Respiratory Control of Heart Rate by Use of Bivariate Autoregressive Techniques , 1996 .

[11]  JunichiroHayano,et al.  Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia , 1996, Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science.

[12]  S Cerutti,et al.  Model dependency of multivariate autoregressive spectral analysis. , 1997, IEEE engineering in medicine and biology magazine : the quarterly magazine of the Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society.

[13]  P. Lehrer,et al.  Zazen and cardiac variability. , 1999, Psychosomatic medicine.

[14]  Guohua Pan,et al.  Local Regression and Likelihood , 1999, Technometrics.

[15]  M. Wand Local Regression and Likelihood , 2001 .

[16]  Emery N. Brown,et al.  The Time-Rescaling Theorem and Its Application to Neural Spike Train Data Analysis , 2002, Neural Computation.

[17]  Jeffrey M. Hausdorff,et al.  Heart rate dynamics during three forms of meditation. , 2004, International journal of cardiology.

[18]  F. Yasuma,et al.  Respiratory sinus arrhythmia: why does the heartbeat synchronize with respiratory rhythm? , 2004, Chest.

[19]  S. Rauch,et al.  Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness , 2005, Neuroreport.

[20]  E. Brown,et al.  A point-process model of human heartbeat intervals: new definitions of heart rate and heart rate variability. , 2005, American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology.

[21]  B. Ditto,et al.  Short-term autonomic and cardiovascular effects of mindfulness body scan meditation , 2006, Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

[22]  Emery N. Brown,et al.  Analysis of heartbeat dynamics by point process adaptive filtering , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[23]  Emery N. Brown,et al.  Assessment of Autonomic Control and Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Using Point Process Models of Human Heart Beat Dynamics , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.