From pain to stress evaluation using heart rate variability analysis: development of an evaluation platform.

Heart Rate Variability analysis has been shown in several studies to measure the Autonomic Nervous System tone, which is strongly influenced by pain, stress or anxiety. We have previously described and developed an Analgesia/Nociception Index for pain measurement during surgical procedure. This index based on a heart rate variability analysis can be considered as a vagal tone index and used in several other environments. In this paper, we present an adaptation of our technology for stress / anxiety evaluation in the particular domain of incident management teams training.