Rhythm Analysis of Arterial Blood Pressure

Rhythms identified in the power spectra of blood pressure and ECG recordings were used as probes of the intact cardiovascular control systems. A prominent vasomotor rhythm was detected in human subjects and experimental dogs, with a period ranging between 15 and 30 s. This rhythm did not depend on specific rhythms of heart rate but was dependent on the sympathetic nervous system, and was identified as a third-order rhythm of blood pressure. The parasympathetic nervous system appears to mediate a separate rhythm having a slightly shorter period. Another rhythm studied was a subharmonic of heart rate that appeared during episodes of tachycardia. Electrophysiological mapping of the ventricular surface in dogs revealed that tachycardia induced an alternating pattern of electrical conduction in ischemic areas of the ventricle, coincident with the appearance of subharmonics in pressure and ECG. Our results illustrate the potential utility of spectral analysis of cardiovascular signals in assessing cardiovascular regulation.