Research AREAS

Heart rate variability and outcomes

• Cardiac and non-cardiac mortal dementia
• Survival with heart failure
• Survival after myocardial infarction (MI)
• Transplant-free survival in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Length of stay after abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery
• Mortality in intensive care patients
• Atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery
• HRV measured during polysomnography and mortality in older adults
• Changes in HRV over time and mortality in older adults
• HRV and sudden death in sickle cell anemia

Factors affecting heart rate variability

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Pregnancy
• Clinical and demographic factors post-MI
• Pet ownership
• CABG
• Diabetes
• Insulin resistance
• Fish oil consumption
• Inflammatory markers
• Markers of coagulation
• Treatment of depression in cardiac patients
• Sickle cell anemia
• Valvular disease

Depression in cardiac patients

• Effect of depression on HRV post-MI
• Effect of depression on HRV in heart failure
• Effect on HRV of treatment for depression in cardiac patients
• HRV during sleep and depression in cardiac patients
• Effects of Pharmacologic Therapy on HRV
• Dexmedetomidine
• Digoxin
• Dobutamine stress echocardiography
• Enalapril
• Encainide
• Flecainide
• Labetalol
• Moricizine
• Nicotine replacement therapy and smoking cessation
• Normodyne
• Pindolol
• Statins
• Visken

Non-pharmacologic interventions and HRV

• Exercise training
• Coronary artery bypass surgery
• Lung volume reduction surgery
• Erratic Sinus Rhythm and Other Abnormal Heart Rate Patterns
• Detection of erratic sinus rhythm
• Effect of erratic sinus rhythm on HRV for risk stratification in the elderly
• Association of erratic sinus rhythm and mortality in the elderly
• Association of erratic sinus rhythm and mortality post-MI
• Effect of pharmacologic therapy on erratic rhythm
• Clinical significance of oscillating heart rate patterns
• T-wave Alternans
• Association with sudden cardiac death in older adults
• Association with sudden cardiac death post-MI
• Association with cardiac mortality post-MI
• Relationship to depression in post-MI patients
• Sleep
• Relationship of HRV and sleep stages in older adults
• Relationship of HRV by sleep stage and normal and pathological aging.
• Relationship of HRV by sleep stage with dementia in older adults
• Circadian rhythms of heart rate and HRV during sleep.

Sleep-disordered breathing

• Holter-based screening for sleep-disordered breathing
• Continuous ECG-based detection of periodic breathing
• Measurement of cyclic variation of heart rate parameters
• Relationship of cyclic variation of heart rate parameters and sleep-disordered breathing in older adults
• Relationship of cyclic variation of heart rate parameters and mortality in older adults
• Relationship of periodic breathing heart rate patterns and sudden cardiac death
• Relationship of periodic breathing heart rate patterns and atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery
• Relationship of cyclic variation of heart rate and sleep-disordered breathing in depressed and non-depressed cardiac patients