Detection of emotionally induced ECG changes and their behavioural correlates: a new method for ambulatory monitoring

Heart rate is a well-established indicator of emotional arousal and can serve to detect emotional events. One difficulty, however, is in separating emotional heart rate increases from those increases due to physical activity. On-line analysis of both heart rate and physical activity (recorded with motion detectors) with a portable minicomputer may be able to solve this problem. We have developed a special algorithm that compares the values for heart rate and activity of a particular minute with the values of the previous minutes. If heart rate of a specific minute exceeds the rate of the previous minutes without an accompanying increase of activity, an emotional event may possibly be assumed. In such a case, the patient is requested by a beep signal to answer relevant questions about what he is doing, how he feels, etc. Moreover the patientis allowed to activate the system for himself for special events, e.g. chest pain. Methodological results of a first feasibility study with 32 cardiac patients are presented.