Respiratory sinus arrhythmia: a frequency dependent phenomenon

An examination of respiratory sinus arrhythmia is presented. Sinusoidal breathing was varied over a wide frequency range and the amplitude and phase of the accompanying fluctuations of heart rate were observed. These data show that heart rate is not necessarily in phase with respiration as previously described, but rather that the phase angle between heart rate fluctuations and respiration varies with frequency of breathing in a characteristic fashion. The usual descriptions of respiratory sinus arrhythmia are judged to be inadequate since they are shown to represent only a single point on the entire frequency response curve correlating breathing rate with sinus arrhythmia. heart rate fluctuation and respiratory frequency in man; frequency amplitude analysis of respiration-heart rate relationship; heart rate versus breathing: amplitude and phase angle; breathing-induced heart rate changes: phase angle; respiration-induced heart rate changes: phase angle respiratory sinus arrhythmia; respiration versus heart rate: amplitude and phase angle; sinus arrythmia and respiration: amplitude and phase angle Submitted on July 22, 1963