Time-Varying Analysis of the Heart Rate Variability during Arousals from Sleep.

The goal of this work was to apply a time-varying spectral approach to study the dynamic changes in Heart Rate Variability (HRV) produced by the arousal from sleep in obese patients with and without Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). We studies 10 subjects, group I without OSA and group II with OSA diagnostic. RR intervals series was obtained from ECG records. HRV spectral indexes (HF & LF component) were computed from a time variant AR model. In general, group II has more variability than group I. Results are in agreement with literature for group I. However, group II results don't show statistical differences. Our preliminary results are comparable to others reported. Therefore, this technique allows characterizing transitory phenomena like cardiovascular response to arousals.