Blood Pressure and Heart Rate Variability Complexity Analysis in Pregnant Women with Hypertension

Abstract

Background. In this work, we perform a comparative analysis of blood pressure and heart rate variability complexity during pregnancy between normal, hypertensive, and preeclamptic women. Methods and Results. A total of 563 short electrocardiographic (10 min) records were obtained from 217 pregnant women (135 normal, 55 hypertensive, and 27 preeclamptic) during several gestational ages in sitting position. We used a mixed unbalanced model for the longitudinal statistical analysis and besides the conventional spectral analysis, we applied Lempel–Ziv complexity, sample entropy, approximated entropy, and detrended fluctuation analysis in the complexity measurement. Conclusions. The obtained results revealed significant differences between pathological and normal states with important considerations related to pregnancy adaptability and evolution as well as the relationship of complexity and blood pressure with factors such as maternal age, familial history of diabetes or hypertension, and parity.