Heart Rate Variability Complexity in the Aging Process.pdfVIP

Computational and Mathematical Methods in Medicine, Vol. 8, No. 4, December 2007, 287–296 Heart rate variability complexity in the aging process E. TEJERA†#, A. PLAIN‡††, A. PORTELINHA§‡‡, J. L. H. CACERES{{{, I. REBELO§* and J. M. NIETO-VILLAR† k§§ ´ ´ ´ †Dpto. de Quımica-Fısica, Fac. de Quımica, Universidad de La, Habana, Cuba ´ ‡Fac. de Biologıa, Universidad de La, Habana, Cuba {Center of Cybernetic Apply to Medicine, Cuba ´ §Faculdade de Farmacia/IBMC, Universidade do, Porto, Portugal ´ ´ kCatedra de Sistemas Complejos “H. Poincare”, Universidad de La, Habana, Cuba (Received 12 January 2007; revised 10 February 2007; in final form 25 October 2007) In the present work, we propose a discrete model to the characterization of heart rate variability (HRV) complexity in the aging process of healthy subjects. We apply the Shannon entropy on the basis of an alternative way to probability calculation and to define a new index taking into consideration the transition probability that is related to the physiological complexity of the system. Our results suggest that in the aging process the capability response decreases according to the reduction of the physiological complexity. In the oldest group, an alternative mechanism emerges to compensate for this lack of capability; however, this effect does not increase the physiological complexity. Concomitantly, we provide some physiologi