Impact of Using Different Levels of Threshold-Based Artefact Correction on the Quantification of Heart Rate Variability in Three Independent Human Cohorts

Abstract

The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/9/2/325/s1, Figure S1: Example of a visual inspection of a R-R signal to find possible artefacts or premature contractions across Kubios filters; Figures S2 and S3: Differences on the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) time- and frequency-domains parameters respectively without considering the Very Strong filter; Figure S4: Differences between cohorts on the SDNN using different Kubios filters; Figure S5: Differences between cohorts on the pNN50 using different Kubios filters; and Figure S6: Differences between cohorts on the HF using different Kubios filters. ; Juan M.A. Alcantara, Abel Plaza-Florido, Jairo H. Migueles, Guillermo Sanchez-Delgado and Francisco J. Amaro-Gahete are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU15/04059, FPU16/02760, FPU15/02645, FPU13/04365 and FPU14/04172 respectively). Guillermo Sanchez-Delgado is supported by the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2018 (Programa Contratos-Puente and Programa Perfeccionamiento de Docotres). Francisco J. Amaro-Gahete is supported by the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2019 (Programa Contratos-Puente). Guillermo Sanchez-Delgado and Borja Martinez-Tellez are supported by individual postdoctoral grants from the Fundación Alfonso Martin Escudero. ; Heart rate variability (HRV) is a non-invasive indicator of autonomic nervous system function. HRV recordings show artefacts due to technical and/or biological issues. The Kubios software is one of the most used software to process HRV recordings, offering different levels of threshold-based artefact correction (i.e., Kubios filters). The aim of the study was to analyze the impact of different Kubios filters on the quantification of HRV derived parameters from short-term recordings in three independent human cohorts. A total of 312 participants were included: 107 children with overweight/obesity (10.0 ± 1.1 years, 58% men), 132 young adults (22.2 ± 2.2 years, 33% men) and 73 middle-aged adults (53.6 ± 5.2 years, 48% men). HRV was assessed using a heart rate monitor during 10–15 min, and the Kubios software was used for HRV data processing using all the Kubios filters available (i.e., 6). Repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated significant differences in HRV derived parameters in the time-domain (all p < 0.001) across the Kubios filters in all cohorts, moreover similar results were observed in the frequency-domain. When comparing two extreme Kubios filters, these statistical differences could be clinically relevant, e.g. more than 10 ms in the standard deviation of all normal R-R intervals (SDNN). In conclusion, the results of the present study suggest that the application of different Kubios filters had a significant impact on HRV derived parameters obtained from short-term recordings in both time and frequency-domains. ; The study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (DEP2013-47540 and DEP2016-79512-R), the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria del Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI13/01393), European Union Development Funds, the Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición (FINUT), the Redes Temáticas de Investigación Cooperativa RETIC (Red SAMID RD16/0022), the University of Granada Plan Propio de Investigación 2016 (Excellence actions: Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health [UCEES]), and the Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidades (FEDER: ref. SOMM17/6107/UGR).