Reproducibility of short- and long -term poincarè plot parameters compared with frequency-domain HRV indexes in congestive heart failure

Poincarè plot analysis, allows a beat-to-beat approach of HRV detecting pattern resulting from non linear processes not observable by other methods in a time- or frequency-domain analysis. With a view to its clinical application, \ve evaluated the short- and long-term reproducibility and reliability of the analysis. The main 2D and 3D parameters were automatically measured with a dedicated software developed by the authors. Three 24 hours ECG holter recordings for each of 22 CHF clinically stable patients were analyzed, performing a frequency-domain and a Poincarè plot analysis. Results showed a high short- and long-term reliability, a higher short term reproducibility versus frequency-domain parameters, and a comparable long-term reproducibility, suggesting that some parameters might be very useful in clinical setting.