Significance of heart rate variability in cardiovascular disease

Although heart rate variability has long been recognized as clinically important in fetal monitoring and the assessment of autonomic neuropathy, recent advances in data processing have increased its usefulness as a tool. Basic scientists are using the study of heart rate variability to elucidate the neural control mechanisms of the heart, whereas clinicians are using the same methods to look at the effects of disease states and medical interventions on the heart. In particular, heart rate variability can give insight into the relative sympathetic and parasympathetic inflow to the heart. Because the techniques involved in heart rate variability analysis are relatively new, much work is being done to determine the most effective way to extract information from the beat-to-beat fluctuations in heart rate.