CardioRVAR: A New R Package and Shiny Application for the Evaluation of Closed-Loop Cardiovascular Interactions

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The main objective of this work was to integrate a review of methodologies to estimate closed-loop baroreflex sensitivity, an index used for autonomic nervous system evaluations, into a new software package, CardioRVAR, developed for the R programming environment. We present the results obtained after applying the tool in different scenarios and discuss its potential applications in a clinical setting. The tool is open-source and stored in a public GitHub repository, which allows feedback and provides room for the improvement and continuation of the work. ABSTRACT: CardioRVAR is a new R package designed for the complete evaluation of closed-loop cardiovascular interactions and baroreflex sensitivity estimated from continuous non-invasive heart rate and blood pressure recordings. In this work, we highlight the importance of this software tool in the context of human cardiovascular and autonomic neurophysiology. A summary of the main algorithms that CardioRVAR uses are reviewed, and the workflow of this package is also discussed. We present the results obtained from this tool after its application in three clinical settings. These results support the potential clinical and scientific applications of this tool. The open-source tool can be downloaded from a public GitHub repository, as well as its specific Shiny application, CardioRVARapp. The open-source nature of the tool may benefit the future continuation of this work.