title: Renyi entropy measures of heart rate Gaussianity.
abstract: Sample entropy and approximate entropy are measures that have been successfully utilized to study the deterministic dynamics of heart rate (HR). A complementary stochastic point of view and a heuristic argument using the Central Limit Theorem suggests that the Gaussianity of HR is a complementary measure of the physiological complexity of the underlying signal transduction processes. Renyi entropy (or q-entropy) is a widely used measure of Gaussianity in many applications. Particularly important members of this family are differential (or Shannon) entropy (q = 1) and quadratic entropy (q = 2). We introduce the concepts of differential and conditional Renyi entropy rate and, in conjunction with Burg's theorem, develop a measure of the Gaussianity of a linear random process. Robust algorithms for estimating these quantities are presented along with estimates of their standard errors.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Division, University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22908, USA. dlake@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Douglas E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Lake
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D019277:Entropy; D006339:Heart Rate; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016011:Normal Distribution; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index