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Table 1 Standard for reporting diagnostic accuracy studies guidelines for heart rate variability research (STARDHRV) by (Bossuyt et al. 2003 [36]; Cohen et al. 2016 [37]; Quintana et al. 2016 [38]; Dobbs et al. 2019 [39]; Laborde et al. 2017 [26])

From: Heart rate variability as a strain indicator for psychological stress for emergency physicians during work and alert intervention: a systematic review

 

Evaluation point

1

Identification as a study of validation

2

Structured summary of study objective, design, methods, results and conclusions

3

Scientific and practical background, including the intended use of the index device/software

4

Study objectives and hypotheses described

5

Study uses within-subject design

6

Intended sample size and how it was determined (e.g. G*Power 3)

7

Eligibility criteria including specific restrictions (medical use, gender, age, activity level or BMI)

8

Pre-testing guidelines reported (e.g., limitations to caffeine, alcohol, physical activity etc.)

9

Setup of reference standard and index device described in sufficient detail to allow replication (e.g. hardware/software such as brand, electrode configuration, etc.)

10

Description of environmental conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity, lights on or off, time of day) and posture

11

A stabilization period prior to sampling was described

12

The raw sampling rate and length of collection are described

13

Acknowledgment of breathing (e.g. controlled or not controlled)

14

Description of how estimates or comparison measures were calculated (e.g. ES, LOA, Pearson’s r or ICC)

15

Reasons for missing data, along with percentage missing (e.g., equipment, persistent ectopy) and how it was handled

16

Interbeat artifact identification method (e.g. algorithm, manual inspection)

17

Artifact cleaning methods and percentage of beats corrected

18

Description of metrics used and software/script for HRV calculation (log transformation etc.)

19

Specification of frequency bands used and how they were calculated (e.g. Fast Fourier Transform or Autoregressive modelling)

20

Baseline demographics of participants

21

Mean ± SD along with at least one estimate of precision (e.g. LOA, Pearson’s r or ICC)

22

Study limitations (e.g., sources of potential bias, confounding variables, statistical uncertainty and generalisability)

23

Implications for practice, including the intended use

24

Where the full study protocol can be accessed if not fully described

25

Sources of funding and other support; role of funders