An efficient method of addressing ectopic beats: new insight into data preprocessing of heart rate variability analysis*

Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is affected by ectopic beats. An efficient method was proposed to deal with the ectopic beats. The method was based on trend correlation of the heart timing signal. Predictor of R-R interval (RRI) value at ectopic beat time was constructed by the weight calculation and the slope estimation of preceding normal RRI. The type of ectopic beat was detected and replaced by the predictor of RRI. The performance of the simulated signal after ectopic correction was tested by the standard value using power spectrum density (PSD) estimation, whereas the results of clinical data with ectopic beats were compared with the adjacent ectopic-free data. The result showed the frequency indexes after ectopy corrected had less error than other methods with the test of simulated signal and clinical data. It indicated our method could improve the PSD estimation in HRV analysis. The method had advantages of high accuracy and real time properties to recover the sinus node modulation