Abstract
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic airway disease with increased airway resistance. This study investigated the common characteristics of electrocardiographic (ECG) and nostril airflow signals in COPD patients using cross‐spectral analysis. Heart rate variability (HRV) measures and cross‐spectral (cs) measures of ECG and nostril airflow were compared in COPD patients and normal subjects, and correlated with their clinical characteristics. We found that cross‐spectral analysis can lead to a significant increase in normalized high‐frequency power (nHFPcs) and a significant decrease in normalized very low‐frequency power (nVLFPcs), normalized low‐frequency power (nLFPcs), and low‐/high‐frequency power ratio (LHRcs) in both normal subjects and COPD patients, as compared with their corresponding HRV measures. Further analysis showed that the percentage increase in nHFP (%nHFP) and the percentage decrease in LHR (%LHR) due to cross‐spectral analysis in COPD patients were significantly smaller than those of normal subjects. All cross‐spectral measures of ECG and nostril airflow in COPD patients did not significantly correlate with their pulmonary function characteristics. However, the nHFPcs correlated significantly and negatively with body mass index (BMI) in both normal subjects and COPD patients, and the %nHFP correlated significantly and negatively with BMI in COPD patients. We conclude that cross‐spectral analysis of ECG and nostril airflow signals could lead to reduced enhancement in the high‐frequency component in the cross spectrum of COPD patients. The magnitude of reduced enhancement in the high‐frequency component in the cross‐spectrum was related to the BMI of the patients. Cross‐spectral analysis of ECG and nostril airflow might be used to assess the cardiovascular‐related functions of COPD patients.
Highlights
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic airway disease whose symptoms and signs include dyspnea and labored breathing
Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society
Since respiration is an important ingredient of Heart rate variability (HRV), we investigated the cross-spectral measures of ECG and nostril airflow signals and compared them with their corresponding HRV measures in both normal controls and COPD patients
Summary
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic airway disease whose symptoms and signs include dyspnea and labored breathing. It has been shown that COPD is associated with an increase in vagal activity which can, in turn, explain in part, the reduction in forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) and a 2016 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American Physiological Society and The Physiological Society. Cross spectrum of ECG and Nostril Airflow in COPD W.-A.
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.
