A Mathematical Model for Skin Sympathetic Nerve Activity Simulation

Autonomic nervous system is important for cardiac function regulation. Modeling of autonomic cardiac regulation can contribute to health tracking and disease management. This study proposed a mathematical model that simulates autonomic cardiac regulation response to Valsalva Maneuver, which is a commonly used test that provokes the autonomic nervous system. Dataset containing skin sympathetic nervous activity extracted from healthy participants' ECG was used to validate the model. In the data collection procedure, each participant was required to perform Valsalva Maneuver. The preliminary result of modeling for one subject is presented, and the model validation result showed that the root measure square error between the simulated and measured average skin sympathetic nervous activity is 0.01mV. The model is expected to be further developed, evaluated using the dataset including 41 subjects, and ultimately applied for capturing the early signs of cardiac dysfunction in the future.