Relationship of the Correlation Between EEG and Heart Rate Variability with Cardiovascular Indicators

The correlation between electroencephalographic (EEG) and electrocardiographic (ECG) signals can provide important information about cardiovascular regulation. The current study aims to investigate the dependence of the correlation between EEG and heart rate variability (HRV) on cardiovascular indicators. The signals of a group of 30 subjects were divided into two groups of 15 subjects according to the lower and higher indicators of blood pressure and cholesterol. Relative EEG frequency band powers were calculated in theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands. From power spectral analysis of HRV, low frequency (LF) power, high frequency (HF) power and LF/HF were calculated. In the current study, the correlation between EEG and HRV is detected by two HRV features, LF and HF, in the theta band, and also by two features, HF and LF/HF, in the alpha band. The correlation by one HRV feature, LF/HF, is revealed in the beta band. The effect of cardiovascular features is reflected by LF and HF features in the theta band and by HF in the alpha band. The novel finding that even a small increase in cardiovascular features (blood pressure and cholesterol) can affect cardio-neuronal regulation is important and needs further investigation.