The utility of heart rate fragmentation to predict cognitive decline in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Project Summary

The Alzheimer’s Society of Canada’s Landmark Study (2022) estimates that 1.7 million Canadians will live with dementia by the year 2050. The importance of developing tools for early detection of dementia symptoms, such as cognitive decline, is a priority. One such tool includes Heart Rate Variability (HRV – a measure of the beat-to-beat variation of the heart), which is non-invasive and cost-effective. HRV is associated with a wide range of pathology including dementia and cognitive decline. There are concerns regarding the sensitivity of HRV especially in uncontrolled settings. A novel metric, Heart Rate Fragmentation (change in acceleration sign between heartbeats) which was developed at Harvard, appears to be more robust that traditional HRV measures and has also been associated with cognitive decline. The current study aims to evaluate the predictive validity of Heart Rate Fragmentation to detect cognitive decline in the CLSA using advanced methods for calculating cognitive change.