Reliability of short-term measurements of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with non-permanent atrial fibrillation
Erlend Flo Lenz, Andreas Berg Sellevold, Jon Magne Letnes, Bjarne Martens Nes, Jan Pål Loennechen · 2026
Read Reliability of short-term measurements of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with non-permanent atrial fibrillation by Erlend Flo Lenz, Andreas Berg Sellevold, Jon Magne Letnes, Bjarne Martens Nes, Jan Pål Loennechen (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13550427.txt.
Description
Lenz and colleagues tested in 2026 how reliable short heart rate variability measures are in patients with atrial fibrillation that comes and goes. This measure, the beat-to-beat change in heart timing, reflects the body's automatic control system and is lower before attacks, but strict lab rules limit its clinic use. Fifty patients wore 48-hour heart monitors, and the team compared standard clinic readings with day and night segments picked by hand.
Lenz found wide disagreement between repeat readings: the spread for the standard measures ran from well under half to nearly three times the first value. Night-time segments taken during presumed sleep agreed better with each other than daytime ones, but absolute agreement stayed poor there too. The authors blame both the loose real-world measurement process and natural swings in the body. They warn the readings cannot support decisions about single patients in this workflow.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Erlend Flo Lenz, Andreas Berg Sellevold, Jon Magne Letnes, Bjarne Martens Nes, Jan Pål Loennechen |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 40 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |