Heart rate variability (HRV) provides an estimate of sympathetic and parasympathetic influences on the heart rate. Although HRV has been extensively studied, sustained clinical use is still outstanding. The noninvasive, convenient, and inexpensive arterial pulse originate from heartbeats, but has not been studied in a systematic fashion except in rudimentary ways. In this paper, we present Pulse Rate Variability (PRV) as an alternative to HRV. We give evidence for the detection of disorders in patients using PRV, paving the way for future clinical use.
Aniruddha J. Joshi, Sharat Chandran, Valadi K. Jay