Abstract
Objective: Breathing rate (BR) can be estimated by extracting respiratory signals from the electrocardiogram (ECG) or photoplethysmogram (PPG). The extracted respiratory signals may be influenced by several technical and physiological factors. In this study, our aim was to determine how technical and physiological factors influence the quality of respiratory signals.Approach: Using a variety of techniques 15 respiratory signals were extracted from the ECG, and 11 from PPG signals collected from 57 healthy subjects. The quality of each respiratory signal was assessed by calculating its correlation with a reference oral-nasal pressure respiratory signal using Pearson’s correlation coefficient.Main results: Relevant results informing device design and clinical application were obtained. The results informing device design were: (i) seven out of 11 respiratory signals were of higher quality when extracted from finger PPG compared to ear PPG; (ii) laboratory equipment did not provide higher quality of respiratory signals than a clinical monitor; (iii) the ECG provided higher quality respiratory signals than the PPG; (iv) during downsampling of the ECG and PPG significant reductions in quality were first observed at sampling frequencies of <250 Hz and <16 Hz respectively. The results informing clinical application were: (i) frequency modulation-based respiratory signals were generally of lower quality in elderly subjects compared to young subjects; (ii) the qualities of 23 out of 26 respiratory signals were reduced at elevated BRs; (iii) there were no differences associated with gender.Significance: Recommendations based on the results are provided regarding device designs for BR estimation, and clinical applications. The dataset and code used in this study are publicly available.
Highlights
IntroductionOn general hospital wards Breathing rate (BR) is usually measured by manually counting chest wall movements
Breathing rate (BR) is widely used for diagnosis and prognosis
We hypothesised that the use of higher sampling frequencies would result in higher quality respiratory signals
Summary
On general hospital wards BR is usually measured by manually counting chest wall movements. A recent study in a young, healthy population showed that BR can be estimated from the ECG and PPG signals with a similar precision to Impedance Pneumography, the current clinical standard for electronic BR measurement (Charlton et al 2016a). These results were obtained from young, healthy volunteers at rest using high fidelity signal acquisition equipment, so it is not yet clear whether they can be generalised to clinical settings
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
