Fractal dimension in health and heart failure.

Background: Non-linear analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) can give additional information about autonomic control of the heart rate. This study applied the fractal dimension (FD) in a congestive heart failure (CHF) population.

Methods: FD and HRV were evaluated in a healthy population (n=21) and an end-stage heart failure population (n=21) using 1-h segments during the day and night from Holter recordings.

Results: CHF patients presented a loss of circadian variation in both FD and conventional time- and frequency-domain HRV indices. FD was higher in the CHF population both during the day and night. In the CHF population the correlation between FD and high-frequency power of HRV was lost.

Conclusion: Day-night variations of heart rate fluctuations are lost in heart failure. Changes in FD reflecting physiological and pathophysiological changes were observed.