Increased Heart Rate Fragmentation in Those with WS Suggests Non-autonomic Mechanistic Contributors to Sudden Death Risk

Heart Rate Fragmentation in Williams Syndrome

This work is the first to apply heart rate fragmentation analyses to individuals with Williams Syndrome and posits that the heart rate fragmentation parameter W3 may enable detection and investigation of phenomena underlying the pro-arrhythmic short-long-short RR interval sequences paradigm known to precede ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. It also forwards a novel method for quantifying sinus arrhythmia and sinus pauses that likely correlates with parasympathetic activity.