title: Multifractality in human heartbeat dynamics.
abstract: There is evidence that physiological signals under healthy conditions may have a fractal temporal structure. Here we investigate the possibility that time series generated by certain physiological control systems may be members of a special class of complex processes, termed multifractal, which require a large number of exponents to characterize their scaling properties. We report on evidence for multifractality in a biological dynamical system, the healthy human heartbeat, and show that the multifractal character and nonlinear properties of the healthy heart rate are encoded in the Fourier phases. We uncover a loss of multifractality for a life-threatening condition, congestive heart failure.
authors.affiliation: Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Massachusetts 02215, USA. plamen@buphy.bu.edu
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Ivanov
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Goldberger
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Havlin
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.forename: Z R
authors.initials: ZR
authors.lastname: Struzik
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Stanley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D017709:Fractals; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D009200:Myocardial Contraction / Q000502:physiology*