THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPUTER METHODS IN BIOMEDICINE - THE ANALIZATION BETWEEN HRV AND TYPES OF EXERCISE

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the reliability of short term recordings (5 minutes) of Heart Rate Variability (HRV) and the association between HRV and type of exercise, using an advanced computer software. For this study short term electrocardiogram recording was acquired during supine for 10 min using the BIOPAC MP 150 data acquisition system. AcqKnowledge Softwareversion 4.1.1. (BIOPAC Inc., Goleta, CA, USA) was used to analyze and remove from the recorded ECG all artefacts and ectopic beats. Kubios HRV(R)Analysis Software 2.0 for Windows (The Biomedical Signal and Medical Imaging Analysis Group, Department of Applied Physics, University of Kuopio, Finland) was used to generate the HRV parameters. Data acquisition was performed in a quiet room with temperature between 20 and 220C. The data were recorded between 9 and 10 am, after an adaptation period of 15 minutes. All individuals were asked to avoid caffeine and alcohol 24 hours before the tests. HRV time and frequency domain parameters during rest were calculated on 10 (6 males and 4 females) and after 10 minute of static exercise and 10minutes of dynamic exercise, using Kubios HRV(R)Analysis Software 2.0. HRV is a non invasive assessement method of the autonomic nervous system activity which regulates heart rate (HR). The conclusion of our study was that there is a relation between HRV and type of exercise. Kubios HRV(R)Analysis Software correlated very well the values with the referent method among healthy volunteers and may be used by researchers for HRV studies. Together with a modern heart rate monitor capable of recording RR intervals this freely distributed program forms a complete low-cost HRV measuring and analysis system.