Patent Document ID: 20020042578
Application ID: 09891910
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method of assessing cardiac ischemia in a subject to provide a measure of cardiac or cardiovascular health in that subject, said method comprising the steps of: (a) collecting a first RR-interval data set from said subject during a stage of gradually increasing heart rate; (b) collecting a second RR-interval data set from said subject during a stage of gradually decreasing heart rate, with said first and second RR-interval data sets being collected while minimizing the influence of rapid transients due to autonomic nervous system and hormonal influence on said data sets; (c) comparing said first RR-interval data set to said second RR-interval data set to determine the difference between said data sets; and (d) generating from said comparison of step (c) a measure of cardiac ischemia during stimulation in said subject, wherein a greater difference between said first and second data sets indicates greater cardiac ischemia and lesser cardiac or cardiovascular health in said subject.