ABSTRACT
Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important tool to assess an autonomic nervous system (ANS), which regulates the heart dynamics. This chapter illustrates the influence of age on a female by linear and nonlinear HRV analysis methods. About 5 minutes lead-II electrocardiogram data of 194 healthy female subjects were acquired from the BIOPACTM 160MP system. These data stratified into four age groups: 18–30 years, 31–45 years, 45–60 years, and 61–75 years. HRV was assessed by different indices of time domain, frequency domain using autoregressive modeling with model order optimization, and nonlinear techniques like Poincare plot, approximate entropy, and sample entropy. This chapter demonstrates that there is an overall decline in autonomic control of the cardiovascular system with age, i.e., the sympathetic system dominates, and vagal tone reduces with aging. Moreover, a similar trend was also observed in all nonlinear indices. This work enables to compare HRV in different female age groups according to various HRV measures. These distinct HRV indices with female age will be helpful in preventing diseases related to ANS.
