Berger M, Pichot V, Solelhac G, et al. - A better prediction of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events can be achieved by evaluating nocturnal novel heart rate variability (HRV) parameters such as acceleration capacity (AC), deceleration capacity (DC) and heart rate fragmentation (HRF), in comparison to time and frequency traditional HRV parameters. The observations indicate a form of dysautonomia and fragmented rhythms.

• In a population-based sample of 1784 participants (48.2% male, 58±11 years) free of CVD at baseline, experts examined the link between nocturnal HRV and CVD incidence over 4 years.

• During follow-up, a CVD developed in 67 participants (3.8%).

• After controlling for false discovery rate, the HRV metrics that were significantly linked with incident CVD events were: AC (hazard ratio per one SD increase: 1.59), DC (0.63) and HRF (1.41), as revealed in a fully adjusted model.