Changes in Multifractality with Aging and Heart Failure in Heartbeat Interval Time Series

We present a multifractal analysis of diurnal heart interbeat time series from healthy young subjects, healthy elderly subjects and patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Aging and CHF causes loss of multifractality. We analyze the multifractal spectrum asymmetry. We show that the joint analysis of the degree of multifractality and the asymmetry parameter can differentiate between the cardiac interbeat time series of young and elderly persons and it can also separate healthy subjects and CHF patients.