Detection of subjects with higher self-reporting stress scores using heart rate variability patterns during the day

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been well established to measure instantaneous levels of mental stress. Circadian patterns of HRV features have been reported but their use to estimate levels of mental stress were not studied thoroughly. In this study, we investigated time dependent variations of HRV features to detect subjects under chronic mental stress. Sixty eight subjects were divided into high (n=10) and low stress group (n=43) depending on their self-reporting stress scores. HRV features were calculated during three different time periods of the day. High stress group showed decreased patterns of HRV features compared to low stress group. When logistic regression analysis was performed with raw multiple HRV features, the classification was 63.2% accurate. A new % deviance score reflecting the degree of difference from normal reference patterns increased the accuracy to 66.1%. Our data suggested that HRV patterns obtained at multiple time points of the day could provide useful data to monitor subjects under chronic stress.