System and method for assessing atrial electrical stability

A method for identifying a susceptibility of a subject to atrial-rhythm disturbances, comprising the steps of:

• a) placing a sensor on the subject to measure a physiologic signal of the subject;
• b) recording the physiologic signal from the sensor, the physiologic signal including an electrical activity of a heart of the subject;
• c) determining a beat-to-beat variability in the atrial electrical activity of the subject during a sequence of heart beats;
• d) determining a susceptibility to atrial-rhythm disturbances of the subject using the beat-to-beat variability in the atrial electrical activity;
• and e) generating a report of the susceptibility to atrial-rhythm disturbances of the subject.

A system for identifying susceptibility to atrial-rhythm disturbances, comprising:

• a plurality of sensors configured to measure a physiologic signal of a subject;
• a computer for recording the physiologic signal from the sensor, the physiologic signal including an atrial electrical activity of the subject, the computer being configured to:
• determine a beat-to-beat variability in the atrial electrical activity of the subject, the beat-to-beat variability including alternans of electrocardiographic waveforms of a predetermined number of a sequence of heart beats, and
• use the beat-to-beat variability in the atrial electrical activity to determine a susceptibility to atrial-rhythm disturbances of the subject;
• and a user interface for displaying the susceptibility to atrial-rhythm disturbances of the subject.