Key result
COVID-19 infection did not significantly alter group-level HRV metrics, but individual-level HRV tracking showed statistically significant changes during infection in some users.
Why the study?
The autonomic nervous system is involved in pathological processes such as viral infections, prompting investigation into cardiac autonomic responses measured by heart rate variability before, during, and after coronavirus disease.
Does individual-level heart rate variability (HRV) tracking detect early physiological changes during COVID-19?
Observational (n=14)
Does individual-level heart rate variability (HRV) tracking detect early physiological changes during COVID-19?
Individual-level tracking of heart rate variability may be useful for detecting early physiological changes during COVID-19 infection, despite a lack of group-level differences.
Individual HRV tracking may flag COVID-19 changes in select patients; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before clinical adoption.
Heart rate variability (HRV) is the fluctuation in the time interval between consecutive heartbeats, the measurement of which is a non-invasive method for assessing the autonomic status. The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in physiological situations, and in various pathological processes such as in cardiovascular diseases and viral infections. This study examined the cardiac autonomic responses, as measured by HRV before, after, and during coronavirus disease. In this study, we used beat interval data extracted from the Welltory app from 14 eligible subjects (9 men and 5 women) with a mean age (SD) of 44 (8.7) years. HRV analysis was performed through an assessment of time-domain indices (SDNN and RMSSD). Group analysis did not reveal any statistical difference between HRV metrics before, during, and after COVID-19. However, HRV at the individual level showed a statistically significant individual change during COVID-19 in some users. These data further support the usefulness of using individual-level HRV tracking for the detection of early diseases inclusive of COVID-19.
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Ponomarev et al. (2021) conducted an observational in COVID-19 (n=14). COVID-19 infection vs. Before and after COVID-19 was evaluated on Time-domain indices of HRV (SDNN and RMSSD). COVID-19 infection did not significantly alter group-level HRV metrics, but individual-level HRV tracking showed statistically significant changes during infection in some users.
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