Photoplethysmography wave morphology in patients with atrial fibrillation

This study aimed to compare morphological features of the PPG curve in patients with AF to those presenting a normal sinus rhythm (NSR) and evaluate their usefulness in AF detection. Approach. 10 min PPG signals were obtained from patients with persistent/paroxysmal AF and NSR. Nine morphological parameters (1/ ΔT), Pulse Width [PW], augmentation index [AI], b/a, e/a, [b-e]/a, crest time [CT], inflection point area [IPA], Area and five HRV parameters (heart rate [HR], Shannon entropy [ShE], root mean square of the successive differences [RMSSD], number of pairs of consecutive systolic peaks [R–R] that d iffer by more than 50 ms [NN50], standard deviation of the R–R intervals [SDNN]) were calculated. Main results. Eighty subjects, including 33 with AF and 47 with NSR were recruited. In univariate analysis five morphological features (1/ΔT, p< 0.001; b/a, p< 0.001; [b-e]/a, p< 0.001; CT, p = 0.011 and Area, p< 0.001) and all HRV parameters (p = 0.01 for HR and p< 0.001 for others) were significantly different between the study groups. In the stepwise multivariate model (Area under the curve [AUC] = 0.988 [0.974 –1.000]), three morphological parameters (PW, p< 0.001; e/a, p = 0.011; (b-e)/a, p< 0.001) and three of HRV parameters (ShE, p = 0.01; NN50, p< 0.001, HR, p = 0.01) were significant. Significance. There are significant differences between AF and NSR, PPG waveform, which are useful in AF detection algorithm. Moreover adding those features t...
Source: Physiological Measurement - Category: Physiology Authors: Source Type: research