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Synchronization in the human cardiorespiratory system

Carsten Schäfer1,*, Michael G. Rosenblum1,†, Hans-Henning Abel2, and Jürgen Kurths1

  • 1Department of Physics, Potsdam University, Am Neuen Palais 10, Postfach 601553, D-14415 Potsdam, Germany
  • 2Department of Cardioanesthesiology, Städtisches Klinikum Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

  • *Present address: Centre for Nonlinear Dynamics, Department of Physiology, McGill University, 3655 Drummond Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G lY6.
  • †Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. URL: www.agnld.uni-potsdam.de∼/mros
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Phys. Rev. E 60, 857 – Published 1 July, 1999

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.60.857

Abstract

We investigate synchronization between cardiovascular and respiratory systems in healthy humans under free-running conditions. For this aim we analyze nonstationary irregular bivariate data, namely, electrocardiograms and measurements of respiratory flow. We briefly discuss a statistical approach to synchronization in noisy and chaotic systems and illustrate it with numerical examples; effects of phase and frequency locking are considered. Next, we present and discuss methods suitable for the detection of hidden synchronous epochs from such data. The analysis of the experimental records reveals synchronous regimes of different orders n:m and transitions between them; the physiological significance of this finding is discussed.

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Phys. Rev. E 60, 857– Published 1 July, 1999
  • Received 17 December 1998

© 1999 American Physical Society

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