HRV reference values by age and sex: data and CSV
The reference values behind our HRV checker, row by row: who was measured, how, and where each number comes from.
Last updated
Every number below is copied from a published study and was checked against the paper it comes from. Nothing is estimated, averaged across groups or filled in.
The Is my HRV normal? checker compares your reading with these rows. For what the values mean, read Normal HRV by age: ranges and how to read them.
Download the CSV 22 rows, UTF-8, one row per age band, sex and measure
The values
Values are in milliseconds. "Median (25th–75th percentile)" means half of the group sat inside the bracket. For the pooled rows from many studies, the SD describes how much the study averages differed, not how much people differ.
| Measure | Age | Sex | n | Statistic | Values | Population | Conditions | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMSSD | 25–34 | Women | 208 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 38.4 (26.1–54.5) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 25–34 (n = 208) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 35–44 | Women | 259 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 30.5 (22.4–45.7) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 35–44 (n = 259) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 45–54 | Women | 158 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 23.7 (16.9–31.3) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 45–54 (n = 158) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 55–64 | Women | 95 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 18.9 (13.2–27.3) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 55–64 (n = 95) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 65–74 | Women | 62 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 16.9 (11.1–23.9) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 65–74 (n = 62) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 25–34 | Men | 330 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 36.2 (26.2–48.5) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 25–34 (n = 330) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 35–44 | Men | 292 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 28.7 (20.9–39.0) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 35–44 (n = 292) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 45–54 | Men | 235 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 21.5 (15.7–29.6) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 45–54 (n = 235) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 55–64 | Men | 183 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 17.5 (12.5–24.8) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 55–64 (n = 183) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | 65–74 | Men | 84 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 16.7 (11.8–23.4) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 65–74 (n = 84) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 25–34 | Women | 208 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 44.9 (35.4–58.1) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 25–34 (n = 208) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 35–44 | Women | 259 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 40.2 (32.9–53.7) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 35–44 (n = 259) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 45–54 | Women | 158 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 35.5 (26.5–44.5) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 45–54 (n = 158) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 55–64 | Women | 95 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 29.0 (22.8–35.2) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 55–64 (n = 95) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 65–74 | Women | 62 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 26.0 (18.7–32.5) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), women aged 65–74 (n = 62) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 25–34 | Men | 330 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 46.0 (36.4–58.9) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 25–34 (n = 330) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 35–44 | Men | 292 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 42.6 (32.3–53.1) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 35–44 (n = 292) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 45–54 | Men | 235 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 34.5 (26.1–44.3) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 45–54 (n = 235) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 55–64 | Men | 183 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 29.9 (22.0–39.3) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 55–64 (n = 183) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| SDNN | 65–74 | Men | 84 | Median (25th–75th percentile) | 26.5 (20.1–35.4) ms | Healthy adults from the KORA S4 population study (Augsburg region, Germany), men aged 65–74 (n = 84) | 5-minute resting ECG, lying down, after 5–10 minutes of rest | PLOS ONE 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308 |
| RMSSD | Adults | All adults | 15 studies | Mean (SD between study averages) | 42 (SD 15) ms | Healthy adults in 44 studies published 1997–2008 (21,438 participants in the whole review) | Short-term ECG recordings; length, body position and breathing varied between studies | Frontiers in Public Health 2017. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00258 Reproducing Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology 2010, doi:10.1111/j.1540-8159.2010.02841.x . |
| SDNN | Adults | All adults | 27 studies | Mean (SD between study averages) | 50 (SD 16) ms | Healthy adults in 44 studies published 1997–2008 (21,438 participants in the whole review) | Short-term ECG recordings; length, body position and breathing varied between studies | Frontiers in Public Health 2017. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00258 Reproducing Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology 2010, doi:10.1111/j.1540-8159.2010.02841.x . |
Sources
- Short-term heart rate variability—influence of gender and age in healthy subjects. PLOS ONE, 2015. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0118308
- An overview of heart rate variability metrics and norms. Frontiers in Public Health, 2017. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2017.00258
- A quantitative systematic review of normal values for short-term heart rate variability in healthy adults. Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology, 2010. doi:10.1111/j.1540-8159.2010.02841.x
The CSV's source_note column says exactly where in each paper a row's numbers appear, such as
the table and column.
CSV columns
id , metric , unit , age_min , age_max , sex , n , studies , statistic , p25 , p50 , p75 , mean , sd , sd_describes , population , conditions , source_title , source_publisher , source_year , source_url , original_source_url , source_note .
Empty cells mean the source does not give that value. sex is female, male or
any. Rows with any and ages 18 to 100 are general adult references with no
single age range.
Licence and how to cite
You may reuse this compilation under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: CC BY 4.0
Credit hrv.expert and link to this page. The numbers themselves come from the papers listed above, so please cite those too.