New opportunities of analyzis of heart rate variability method in cadets with stress-induced illnesses

Abstract

Heart rate variability method was considered to be useful for estimating stress-resistance and early diagnostics of stress-induced disorders risk in cadets of Russia Emercom educational institutions. Pitted keratolysis (PK) has been chosen as a model of a stress-induced illness. This method includes analysis before and after a 15 min. thermal test on the sole. If the LF/HF indicator is not reduced in comparison with the initial (baseline) test, thus the risk of PK development is increased. The method was tested on the cadets enrolled into the Institute in 2013 under the experimental extreme conditions. The objective indicators of method diagnostic value are as follows: sensitivity - 78.6 %, specificity - 80.6 %, prognostic value of the positive outcome is 61.1 %; prognostic value of the negative outcome - 90 %; precision index - 80 %. It has been convincingly shown that, with a sufficient repeatability, sensitivity and specificity, this method increases accuracy of detecting the risk of development and reoccurrence of PK in unfavorable hygienic conditions, thus helping to reduce disease incidence via preventive treatment.