Along the last years, the number of HRV studies
has been widely grown. The computation of HRV linear and
non-linear parameters allows the quantification of the cardiac
frequency modulation and of the possible link between them
and different pathologies. In the literature, significant variations
of HRV linear and non-linear parameters are described,
with the focus on age related changes in healthy subjects. The
aim of this study is to evaluate the possible presence of age
related changes in HRV parameters in congestive heart failure
(CHF) patients. The RR time series extracted from 80 CHF
patients, divided by age into two groups, have been accurately
analyzed. The results point out a linear influence of age on
characteristic parameters extracted from these patients; the
behaviors of these parameters are opposite to the literature
results obtained in healthy subjects. We hypothesize that this
discrepancy may be due to the RR data selection and to their
pre-processing phase as well as to some clinical factors as the
neuro hormonal imbalance characteristic of the CHF disease
that often produces a sympathetic activation.
