Empirical Evaluation of the Potential of Low-cost and Open Source “On-the-Person” ECG for Cardiopathy Pre-screening

• DOI: 10.5220/0006962701150122
• Publication Date: 2018-09-27T11:20:20Z
• Authors: Hélio B. M. Lourenço; Víctor Sanfins; Sílvia Ala; Francisco Barros; Hugo P. Silva; Manuel J.C.S. Reis
• Keywords: Open Source; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; QTc; Dynamic applications; On-the-Person ECG; Low-cost; Heart rate variability; 3. Good health

Electrocardiographic (ECG) data analysis can reveal crucial information about the cardiovascular physiologi- cal phenomenon, which is modulated by the Autonomic Nervous System. Hereupon, beyond cardiovascular diagnosis, ECG markers can also reflect workload levels, or even physical and mental performance, through Heart Rate Variability (HRV) analysis. Building upon previous work found within the state-of-the-art, this pilot research explores the potential of using a low-cost device for cardiopathy pre-screening, through ECG signal analysis. With the aim of performing the rhythmical analysis, we performed empirical tests from a population of 21 control subjects in a resting position, and an additional 2 subjects, one of them in dynamic condition, in the scope of an exploratory research, using ECG wave segments analysis and HRV features extraction for nu- merical analysis. Results have demonstrated that the signal quality allows reliable ECG acquisition for further rhythmical and HRV analysis, in stationary and dynamic monitoring, for the bipolar leads applied. There was also evidence to suggest a benefit from including ECG morphological analysis with this hardware and software setup for prevention and diagnosis of cardiovascular disorders, although requiring further investigation.