Work

Reduced Heart Rate Volatility

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: In Brief Objective: To determine if using dense data capture to measure heart rate volatility (standard deviation) measured in 5-minute intervals predicts death. Background: Fundamental approaches to assessing vital signs in the critically ill have changed little since the early 1900s. Our prior work in this area has demonstrated the utility of densely sampled data and, in particular, heart rate volatility over the entire patient stay, for predicting death and prolonged ventilation. Methods: Approximately 120 million heart rate data points were prospectively collected and archived from 1316 trauma ICU patients over 30 months. Data were sampled every 1 to 4 seconds, stored in a relational database, linked to outcome data, and de-identified. HR standard deviation was continuously computed over 5-minute intervals (CVRD, cardiac volatility–related dysfunction). Logistic regression models incorporating age and injury severity score were developed on a test set of patients (N = 923), and prospectively analyzed in a distinct validation set (N = 393) for the first 24 hours of ICU data. Results: Distribution of CVRD varied by survival in the test set. Prospective evaluation of the model in the validation set gave an area in the receiver operating curve of 0.81 with a sensitivity and specificity of 70.1 and 80.0, respectively. CVRD predict death as early as 24 hours in the validation set. Conclusions: CVRD identifies a subgroup of patients with a high probability of dying. Death is predicted within first 24 hours of stay. We hypothesize CVRD is a surrogate for autonomic nervous system dysfunction. New techniques to capture dense physiologic data in the intensive care unit have identified reduced heart rate volatility as a new vital sign. Aberrations of this vital sign in the first 24 hours following injury predict patient death with 70% sensitivity and 80% specificity after incorporating age and injury severity score.

Source: Annals of Surgery

DOI: 10.1097/01.sla.0000137143.65540.9c