title: Bioengineering assessment of acupuncture, part 7: heart rate variability.
abstract: In the seventh part of this review article, preliminary research on the topic of acupuncture and heart rate variability is described. Heart rate variability (HRV) refers to the beat-to-beat alterations in heart rate. Under resting conditions, the electrocardiograms of healthy people exhibit periodic variations in the percentage change in sequential chamber complexes (RR-intervals). The parameter HRV is modulated by the blood-pressure control-system, influences from the hypothalamus, and, in particular, the vagal cardiovascular center in the lower brainstem. This review article contains a short summary of scientific literature on HRV and acupuncture.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit of Biomedical Engineering in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM Research Center), Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. gerhard.litscher@medunigraz.at
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Litscher
mesh_terms: D026881:Acupuncture; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System; D017704:Baroreflex; D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation / Q000503:physiopathology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006349:Heart Valve Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010507:Periodicity