Effects of Head-Up Tilt on Nonlinear Properties of Heart Rate Variability in Young and Elderly Subjects

In the present study, our aim is to investigate whether responses to the head-up tilt (HUT) on nonlinear properties of heart rate variability (HRV) in young and elderly subjects are different or not. Thirteen young-healthy subjects ($24.5{\pm}3.7$ years) and 18 old-aged healthy subjects ($74.5{\pm}7.4$ years) participated in this study. An electrocardiogram (ECG) in the supine posture, at $0^{\circ}$, and in the standing posture, at $70^{\circ}$ of head-up tilt, was recorded. Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) and approximate entropy (ApEn), measures of short-/long-term correlation properties and overall complexity of heart rate (HR) respectively, along with spectral components of HR variability (HRV) were analyzed for both the supine and HUT postures. We observed that the short-term fractal exponent ${\alpha}_1$ increased during HUT posture (F(1, 29) = 39.79, P = 0.000), especially, the young subjects showed a significantly higher values compared to the elderly subjects. ApEn significantly decreased (F(1, 29) = 8.61, P = 0.006) during HUT posture. HUT posture decreased the complexity in HR dynamics and increased short-term fractal exponent values in young subjects but not in elderly subjects. These results imply that there are differences of response to HUT on nonlinear properties between young and elderly subjects.