Analysis of the correlation between ventricular depolarization events and heart rate in normal subjects using signal-averaged ECG

Electrical and mechanical events of cardiac activity must adapt to the time course between successive heart beats to allow the appropriate function of the heart as a pump. This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of resting instantaneous heart rate (HR) on the duration of the events of the ventricular depolarization, using SAECG. High resolution ECG signals of 12 normal adults (SEARCH data base) were analyzed and beats separated according to instantaneous HR histogram, which was divided into classes of 5 bpm width, ranging from 90 bpm to 65 bpm. For each subject, beats corresponding to a particular histogram class were signal-averaged together. The vector magnitude was assembled and analyzed according to conventional approach after bidirectional band-pass filtering. The present results indicate that ventricular depolarization events analyzed by signal-averaged ECG are dependent on instantaneous heart rate.