Ability of heart rate variability as screening tool for heart diseases in men

The aim of this study was to analyze the ability of heart rate variability (HRV) indices to identify patients with heart diseases as a first diagnosis by the general practitioner (GP). In this study we applied linear and non-linear methods of short-term HRV analysis. 78 healthy male subjects (REF) and 378 male patients (PAT) with several heart diseases were investigated considering two age groups: younger men (YM) and elderly men (EM). The identification of patients with heart diseases was performed using a scoring system based on cut-off parameters calculated from REF. Comparing REF with PAT, in both age matched groups the specificity were selected to be 100%. Combining the best indices from all domains revealed sensitivities of 74.07% for YM and 77.44% for EM. In conclusion, short-term HRV analysis might offer a screening of heart diseases as a first diagnosis by the GP. Especially nonlinear parameters contribute to diagnosing heart diseases in men.