Using Laguerre expansion within point-process models of heartbeat dynamics: A comparative study

Point-process models have been recognized as a distinguished tool for the instantaneous assessment of heartbeat dynamics. Although not thoroughly linked to the physiology, nonlinear models also yield a more accurate quantification of cardiovascular control dynamics. Here, we propose a Laguerre expansion of the linear and nonlinear Wiener-Volterra kernels in order to account for the nonlinear and non-gaussian information contained in the ECG-derived heartbeat series while using a reduced number of parameters. Within an Inverse-Gaussian probability model, up to quadratic nonlinearities were considered to continuously estimate the dynamic spectrum and bispectrum. Results performed on 10 subjects undergoing a stand-up protocol show that this novel methodology improves on the algorithmic performances and, at the same time, more accurately characterizes sympatho-vagal changes to posture.