Key result
Older age is linked to higher Holter ECG motion artifact rates, reaching ~1.9% in elderly males.
Why the study?
Age-related physiological and mechanical factors increase susceptibility to motion-induced artifacts in ambulatory Holter ECG, limiting reliable HRV analysis in elderly populations.
Observational (n=20)
Absolute Event Rate: 1.9% vs 0.3%
Elderly males experience a higher motion artifact burden during ambulatory ECG monitoring compared to younger males, demonstrating the need for age-stratified noise modeling in wearable ECG devices.
Artifact rates in this small Level 5 sample remain hypothesis-generating; larger prospective studies are required before clinical consideration.
Ambulatory Holter electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring is increasingly used in ambulatory elderly populations; however, age-related physiological and mechanical factors substantially increase susceptibility to motion-induced signal artifacts, limiting reliable heart rate (HR) variability (HRV) analysis. This study aims to quantify age-group differences in motion artifact burden and to establish an age-stratified noise model using simultaneous ECG and three-axis accelerometry. Twenty participants—15 elderly patients (elderly male: OM, n = 10; elderly female: OF, n = 5) and five young males (young male: YM, n = 5)—underwent ambulatory ECG recording during daily life activities. The simultaneous acquisition of three-channel ECG and triaxial acceleration data enables quantitative characterization of motion-induced noise in the R–R interval (RRI) time series. We present a data processing pipeline that (1) extracts RRI sequences and computes a comprehensive set of heart rate variability (HRV) metrics (time-domain, frequency-domain, and nonlinear), (2) computes per-epoch accelerometer root mean square (RMS) as a motion intensity proxy, and (3) correlates motion intensity with RRI artifact rate across age groups. Key findings: Artifact rate was highest in OM (1.9 ± 4.7%) versus OF (0.9 ± 0.9%) and YM (0.3 ± 0.6%); standard deviation (SD) of all normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) was 72.7 ± 26.5 ms (OM), 95.8 ± 71.8 ms (OF), and 79.6 ± 6.7 ms (YM); and low-frequency-to-high-frequency power ratio (LF/HF) was notably higher in YM (5.04 ± 3.52) than in elderly groups (OM: 1.53; OF: 1.08). Epoch accelerometer RMS was modestly higher in YM (0.317 g) than in elderly groups (OM: 0.306 g; OF: 0.302 g). The findings establish a quantitative framework for age-stratified noise modeling in wearable ECG devices, with direct implications for motion-robust R-peak detection algorithm design. The concurrent availability of ECG and inertial data from a single IEC 60601-certified device distinguishes this dataset from prior art and strengthens its value for signal processing research.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Morikawa et al. (2026) reported an observational. Older age vs. Young age (young males) was evaluated on Artifact rate in the R-R interval time series. Older age was associated with higher motion artifact rates during ambulatory Holter ECG monitoring, with rates of 1.9% in elderly males and 0.9% in elderly females versus 0.3% in young males.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: