Validation of a non-linear index of heart rate variability to determine aerobic and anaerobic thresholds during incremental cycling exercise in women

Studies highlight the usage of non-linear time series analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) using the short-term scaling exponent alpha1 of Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA-alpha1) during exercise to determine aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. The present study aims to further verify this approach in women. Gas exchange and HRV data were collected from 26 female participants with different activity levels. Oxygen uptake (VO(2)) and heart rate (HR) at first (VT1) and second ventilatory thresholds (VT2) were compared with DFA-alpha1-based thresholds 0.75 (HRVT1) and 0.50 (HRVT2). Results: VO(2) at VT1 and VT2 were 25.2 ml/kg/min (± 2.8) and 31.5 ml/kg/min (± 3.6) compared with 26.5 ml/kg/min (± 4.0) and 31.9 ml/kg/min (± 4.5) for HRVT1 and HRVT2, respectively (ICC(3,1) = 0.77, 0.84; r = 0.81, 0.86, p < 0.001). The mean HR at VT1 was 147 bpm (± 15.6) and 167 bpm (± 12.7) for VT2, compared with 152 bpm (± 15.5) and 166 bpm (± 13.2) for HRVT1 and HRVT2, respectively (ICC(3,1) = 0.87, 0.90; r = 0.87, 0.90, p < 0.001). Bland–Altman analysis for VT1 vs. HRVT1 showed a mean difference of − 1.3 ml/kg/min (± 2.4; LoA: 3.3, − 6.0 ml/kg/min) for VO(2) and of − 4.7 bpm (± 7.8; LoA: 10.6, − 20.0 bpm) for HR. VT2 vs. HRVT2 showed a mean difference of − 0.4 ml/kg/min (± 2.3; LoA: 4.1, − 4.9 ml/kg/min) for VO(2) and 0.5 bpm (± 5.7; LoA: 11.8, − 10.8 bpm) for HR. DFA-alpha1-based thresholds showed good agreement with traditionally used thresholds and could be used as an alternative approach for marking organismic transition zones for intensity distribution in women.