Tomes Colin, Schram Ben, Canetti Elisa, Orr Robin
Faculty of Health Science and Medicine, Bond University, Robina, QLD, Australia.
Tactical Research Unit, Bond University, Robina, QLD, Australia.
PLoS One. 2025 Jan 24;20(1):e0317124. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0317124. eCollection 2025.
Police tactical group (PTG) officers respond to the most demanding and high-risk police situations. As such, PTG personnel require exceptional physical fitness, and selection for employment often evaluates fitness both directly and indirectly. While heart rate (HR) is often used to measure physical effort, heart rate variability (HRV) may be a valuable tool for measuring stress holistically. The primary aim of this research was to investigate whether HRV was more sensitive than HR at monitoring workload during key PTG selection activities. As aerobic fitness is associated with workload during these tasks, a secondary aim was to investigate relationships between HRV, HR and aerobic fitness during the same tasks. The relationships between HRV (percentage of adjacent R-R intervals varying by 50% or more; pRR50%) and HR, as measured by ambulatory electrocardiograms obtained during a specialist police selection course, as well as aerobic fitness, as determined via total shuttles completed on the 20-meter multistage fitness test (MSFT; 'beep test'), were investigated. This study included a cohort of six male PTG candidates (n = 6) undergoing selection. As illustrated by a time-series plot, HR values were generally unremarkable, but HRV values were potentially depressed, and tentatively indicated overstress when count data from consecutive short-term analyses were derived. The MSFT was significantly, positively, correlated with pRR50% (ρ (6) = 0.812, p = 0.050, Fisher's z = 1.132). The MSFT and nonlinear HRV, frequency domain HRV, and HR were not significantly correlated. When assessed by linear regression, neither HRV nor HR were predicted by MSFT score. These findings indicate that HR alone is likely not sufficiently sensitive to provide detail on the stress response of candidates undertaking essential tactical tasks that combine physical stressors with cognitive load in adverse conditions. HRV analysis may provide additional insights regarding candidate suitability, particularly during dynamic and multifaceted assessments, though the causal direction of the relationship between HRV and aerobic fitness remains unclear.
警察战术小组（PTG）警官应对要求最为严苛、风险最高的警务情况。因此，PTG人员需要具备卓越的身体素质，录用选拔通常会直接或间接地评估体能。虽然心率（HR）常被用于衡量身体的努力程度，但心率变异性（HRV）可能是一种全面衡量压力的有价值工具。本研究的主要目的是调查在PTG关键选拔活动中，HRV在监测工作负荷方面是否比HR更敏感。由于有氧适能与这些任务中的工作负荷相关，次要目的是研究在相同任务中HRV、HR和有氧适能之间的关系。通过在专业警察选拔课程中获得的动态心电图测量HRV（相邻R-R间期变化50%或更多的百分比；pRR50%）与HR的关系，以及通过在20米多级体能测试（MSFT；“哔哔测试”）中完成的总往返次数确定的有氧适能之间的关系。本研究纳入了六名正在接受选拔的男性PTG候选人（n = 6）。如时间序列图所示，HR值通常无异常，但HRV值可能降低，当从连续短期分析得出计数数据时，初步表明存在过度压力。MSFT与pRR50%显著正相关（ρ（6） = 0.812，p = 0.050，费舍尔z = 1.132）。MSFT与非线性HRV、频域HRV和HR均无显著相关性。通过线性回归评估时，MSFT分数均不能预测HRV和HR。这些发现表明，仅HR可能不足以敏感地详细说明在不利条件下承担结合身体应激源与认知负荷的基本战术任务的候选人的应激反应。HRV分析可能会提供有关候选人适用性的更多见解，特别是在动态和多方面评估期间，尽管HRV与有氧适能之间关系的因果方向仍不明确。
