Research Centre for Biomedical Engineering, School of Mathematics, Computer Science and Engineering, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
Physiol Meas. 2020 Aug 11;41(7):07TR01. doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab998c.
Heart rate variability has been largely used for the assessment of cardiac autonomic activity, due to the direct relationship between cardiac rhythm and the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. In recent years, another technique, pulse rate variability, has been used for assessing heart rate variability information from pulse wave signals, especially from photoplethysmography, a non-invasive, non-intrusive, optical technique that measures the blood volume in tissue. The relationship, however, between pulse rate variability and heart rate variability is not entirely understood, and the effects of cardiovascular changes in pulse rate variability have not been thoroughly elucidated. In this review, a comprehensive summary of the applications in which pulse rate variability has been used, with a special focus on cardiovascular health, and of the studies that have compared heart rate variability and pulse rate variability is presented. It was found that the relationship between heart rate variability and pulse rate variability is not entirely understood yet, and that pulse rate variability might be influenced not only due to technical aspects but also by physiological factors that might affect the measurements obtained from pulse-to-pulse time series extracted from pulse waves. Hence, pulse rate variability must not be considered as a valid surrogate of heart rate variability in all scenarios, and care must be taken when using pulse rate variability instead of heart rate variability. Specifically, the way pulse rate variability is affected by cardiovascular changes does not necessarily reflect the same information as heart rate variability, and might contain further valuable information. More research regarding the relationship between cardiovascular changes and pulse rate variability should be performed to evaluate if pulse rate variability might be useful for the assessment of not only cardiac autonomic activity but also for the analysis of mechanical and vascular autonomic responses to these changes.
心率变异性在很大程度上被用于评估心脏自主活动，因为心脏节律与交感和副交感神经系统的活动之间存在直接关系。近年来，另一种技术，即脉搏率变异性，已被用于从脉搏波信号评估心率变异性信息，尤其是从光体积描记术获得的信息，光体积描记术是一种非侵入性、非侵入性的光学技术，可测量组织中的血液量。然而，脉搏率变异性与心率变异性之间的关系尚未完全理解，脉搏率变异性对心血管变化的影响也尚未得到充分阐明。在这篇综述中，全面总结了脉搏率变异性在心血管健康等方面的应用，并比较了心率变异性和脉搏率变异性的研究。结果发现，心率变异性和脉搏率变异性之间的关系尚未完全理解，脉搏率变异性不仅可能受到技术方面的影响，还可能受到可能影响从脉搏波中提取的脉冲到脉冲时间序列获得的测量值的生理因素的影响。因此，在所有情况下，都不能将脉搏率变异性视为心率变异性的有效替代物，在使用脉搏率变异性代替心率变异性时必须谨慎。具体来说，脉搏率变异性受心血管变化影响的方式不一定反映与心率变异性相同的信息，并且可能包含更多有价值的信息。应该进行更多关于心血管变化与脉搏率变异性之间关系的研究，以评估脉搏率变异性是否不仅可用于评估心脏自主活动，而且可用于分析对这些变化的机械和血管自主反应。
