ECG and pulse variability analysis for exercise evaluation

Abstract

ECG and pulse waveforms are important physiological parameters that can be utilized to analyze noninvasively physical condition and monitor cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, they were studied for evaluating the effects of exercise on human body. However, the systematical analysis on the changes of ECG and pulse waveforms before and after exercise has not been found. This study examines the change of ECG and pulse waveforms after 12-minute-running exercise in nine weeks with 10 healthy subjects. In the experiment, RQ, SQ and TQ represent the amplitude difference between R-, S-, T- and Q-wave of ECG, respectively. Similarly, H1 and H2 represent the amplitude of highest and small peak relative to the baseline of pulse waveforms, respectively. It was found that 90% of subjects' heart rate (HR) at rest has significant decreased (p<0.001) during the experiment period. Moreover, other parameters (RQ/SQ/HR, TQ/RQ/HR, baseline-signal ratio and H1/H2) all have significant difference (p<0.001) in nine weeks. 80% of RQ/SQ/HR, 60% of TQ/RQ/HR, 100% of baseline-signal energy ratio and 80% of H1/H2 at rest decreased during nine weeks experiment; while 70% of RQ/SQ/HR declined, 100% of TQ/RQ/HR and 90% of H1/H2 increased immediately after exercise comparing with rest condition. Results showed that these parameters could properly denote the change of ECG and pulse waveforms in exercise experiment. Furthermore, according to the variation trend of these parameters, it indicated that 12-minute-running improved cardiopulmonary function of subjects significantly.