Study of the influence of waveform variations on the ECG correlation dimension

The correlation dimension (D₂) of a simulated electrocardiogram (ECG) has been computed for different ECG waveforms. Using a simulated ECG, the sampling rate, or the waveform lengths and amplitudes can be changed separately and it is possible to analyze how such changes could induce variations in the correlation dimension estimation. The addressed question is the following: which variations within the ECG signal affect the estimated D₂ parameter and which do not influence it? The results showed that the effects due to variations of waveform amplitudes can determine D₂ values ranging between 2 and 3, while the effects of variation in waveform durations are more difficult to quantify. Sampling rate seems not to affect significantly the D₂ estimates