IMR Press / CEOG / Volume 28 / Issue 4 / pii/2001069

Clinical and Experimental Obstetrics & Gynecology (CEOG) is published by IMR Press from Volume 47 Issue 1 (2020). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.

Original Research

Neonatal magnetocardiography and Fourier spectral analysis

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1 Laboratory of Medical Physics, Medical School Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis (Greece)
2 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical School Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis (Greece)
Clin. Exp. Obstet. Gynecol. 2001, 28(4), 249–252;
Published: 10 December 2001
Abstract

Objective: In this study we investigated the relationship between heart rate variability (HRV) and respiration in healthy and probably asphyxiated infants using magnetocardiographic (MCG) recordings. Methods: Ten healthy and eight infants from pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia with indications of mild perinatal asphyxia were included in the study. All were near term. Maternal age ranged from 16 to 39 years (mean = 29.05, SD = 6.13). Spectral analy­sis was used to find out any association between respiration and HRV. Results: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was reduced in preeclamptic infants with indications of mild perinatal asphyxia. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.0002, t-test), whereas the heart rate of the two groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.1, t-test). Conclusion: The results suggest that infants with indications of mild preeclampsia differ from controls in respiratory activity and this difference is independent of basal heart rate. Thus, spectral analysis could be useful for the estimation of influence of mild peri­natal asphyxia in the RSA rhythm of newborns.

Keywords
Magnetocardiography
Infant
Power spectra analysis
Respiratory sinus arrhythmia
Mild asphyxia
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