Heart rate variability (HRV) parameters such as pNN50 and SDNN may serve as physiological biomarkers to detect cognitive decline during aging.
Reduced cardiac autonomic modulation, especially lower parasympathetic activity, is significantly associated with cognitive impairment in older adults. Lower pNN50 values were correlated with slower information processing speed, and lower SDNN was associated with poorer executive function. These findings support the potential use of HRV as a physiological biomarker to detect cognitive changes during ageing.
Maduro et al. (Mon,) studied this question.