HRV analysis: undependability of approximate entropy at locating optimum complexity in malnourished children.

Introduction: Approximate Entropy is an extensively enforced metric to evaluate chaotic responses and irregularities of RR intervals sourced from an eletrocardiogram. However, to estimate their responses, it has one major problem - the accurate determination of tolerances and embedding dimensions. So, we aimed to overt this potential hazard by calculating numerous alternatives to detect their optimality in malnourished children.

Impact of malnutrition on cardiac autonomic modulation in children.

Objective: To compare the autonomic behavior between malnourished children and a control group using analysis of heart rate variability (HRV).

Method: Data were analyzed from 70 children who were divided into two groups: malnourished and eutrophic, according to the Z-score nutritional status for height and age. For analysis of HRV indices, heart rate was recorded beat to beat with the child in the supine position for 20min.