Biomedical Research

Heart Rate Variability (HRV) has been a growing major health concern worldwide. It is a key factor to determine an individual’s cardiovascular condition. The imbalance in the heart rate has profound impact in causation of several heart diseases. This study aimed to investigate the HRV risk factors that are predominant in the development of heart diseases in motorbike riders. It involves 10 healthy subjects riding five different Indian make motorbikes. Photo plethysmography signal was recorded in three different conditions such as before, during and after motorbike riding using pulse oximeter. The acquired physiological signals from different motorbike riders were processed to determine the variability in the heart rate. The parameters such as systolic amplitude, diastolic amplitude and dicrotic notch for all considered motorbikes were extracted. The results of this study shows an exceptionally high risks of variation in the heart rate among motorbike riders for vehicles having overall kerb weight of 187 kg, moderate risks for kerb weight between 144-145 kg and low risks for motorbikes having kerb weight between 132-137 kg. Body vibration too had an impact on the heart rate variability. Our study thus, reveals that existence of abnormal HRV owing to increase in motorbike kerb weight and speed. The other factors such as vehicle suspension, body design and wheels dimension also indirectly influences HRV. We suggest that essential ergonomic interventions are required to eliminate HRV exposure risks in motorbikes.

Author(s): Ramasamy S, Adalarasu K, Trupti N Patel
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