We applied multiresolution wavelet analysis to the sequence of times between human heartbeats (R-R intervals) and have found a scale window, between 16 and 32 heartbeats, over which the widths of the R-R wavelet coefficients fall into disjoint sets for normal and heart-failure patients. This has enabled us to correctly classify every patient in a standard data set as either belonging to the heart-failure or normal group with 100% accuracy, thereby providing a clinically significant measure of the presence of heart-failure from the R-R intervals alone. Comparison is made with previous approaches, which have provided only statistically significant measures.
@article{arxiv.adap-org/9711003,
title = {Multiresolution wavelet analysis of heartbeat intervals discriminates healthy patients from those with cardiac pathology},
author = {Stefan Thurner and Markus C. Feurstein and Malvin C. Teich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:adap-org/9711003},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letters