Sex Differences in Time-Domain and Frequency-Domain Heart Rate Variability Measures of Fatigued Drivers

Abstract

The effects of fatigue on a driver’s autonomic nervous system (ANS) were investigated through heart rate variability (HRV) measures considering the difference of sex. Electrocardiogram (ECG) data from 18 drivers were recorded during a simulator-based driving experiment. Thirteen short-term HRV measures were extracted through time-domain and frequency-domain methods. First, differences in HRV measures related to mental state (alert or fatigued) were analyzed in all subjects. Then, sex-specific changes between alert and fatigued states were investigated. Finally, sex differences between alert and fatigued states were compared. For all subjects, ten measures showed significant differences (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.01) between different mental states. In male and female drivers, eight and four measures, respectively, showed significant differences between different mental states. Six measures showed significant differences between males and females in an alert state, while ten measures showed significant sex differences in a fatigued state. In conclusion, fatigue impacts drivers’ ANS activity, and this impact differs by sex; more differences exist between male and female drivers’ ANS activity in a fatigued state than in an alert state.

Effect of Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation on Fatigue Delay after Medium-Intensity Training

“…The SDNN changed little after tPCS intervention, and there was no significant difference before and after intervention. However, the findings of Zeng et al [ 51 ] differed from those of our study. That study showed that the occurrence of fatigue will increase the SDNN value in driving tasks.…”

A Systematic Review of In-Vehicle Physiological Indices and Sensor Technology for Driver Mental Workload Monitoring

“…The studies included in this review have measured cardiovascular parameters using different types of sensors. Electrode-based ECG has been the most frequently used data collection hardware for HR and HRV data [ 21 , 30 , 52 , 54 , 56 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ]. HR and HRV analysis typically requires three leads in the ECG to detect the R peak in the QRS complex [ 74 ].…”

“…Post-hoc pairwise comparison between two measures or two groups of participants have been employed by several studies for further analysis [ 56 , 64 , 71 , 72 , 76 ]. Some of the other statistical analysis methodologies used are Pearson correlation [ 59 ], parametric analysis with T-scores [ 68 ], Mann-Whitney U tests [ 66 ], and log-likelihood [ 80 ].…”

“…In contrast, some studies also report no significant changes in blink behaviour in induced MWL conditions [ 62 ]. Several studies in this review have included components of EDA as one among the several objective measures [ 51 , 52 , 57 , 61 , 63 , 64 , 66 ]. The results obtained by Meteier et al [ 70 ] argued that a combination of EDA and RR signals can be used to detected verbally induced MWL.…”

Effects on Heart Rate Variability of Stress Level Responses to the Properties of Indoor Environmental Colors: A Preliminary Study

“…Stress responses are observed amid the contrasting actions of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which form the ANS. HRV reflects the related activity level [23] and is an index of the time-varying differences between two adjacent heartbeats that have been used for the objective evaluation of mental health and stress [24]. Figure 1 describes stress-induced physiological, psychological, and behavioral reactions manifested by SNS and PNS interactions with ANS stimulation.…”