Detecting pediatric obstructive sleep apnea using ECG

Heart rate variability (HRV), Atrioventricular conduction (PR), and ECG-derived respiration (EDR) were studied retrospectively on nine pediatric polysomnography (PSG) files for obstructive sleep apnea. Signals were extracted from the first half of overnight ECG from PSG files. A five-epoch (150 s) window segmented each signal into OSA contaminated or normal breathing sections without overlap according to the physician´s documented diagnosis. Standard HRV parameters such as mean, standard deviation, VLF, LF, HF and LF/HF were analyzed for each HRV segment; mean and standard deviation were studied for each PR segment; frequency and amplitude of respiration peak were studied for each EDR segment. Results showed significant difference (p<0.001) for HF, LF/HF, PR standard deviation and EDR parameters between normal breathing segments and OSA contaminated segments in each OSA patient. Cyclic variation of heart rate (CVHR) was found only in OSA patients.