Multiscale Entropy Analysis of Pulse Wave Velocity for Assessing Atherosclerosis in the Aged and Diabetic

This study proposed a dynamic pulse wave velocity (PWV)-based biomedical parameter in assessing the degree of atherosclerosis for the aged and diabetic populations. Totally, 91 subjects were recruited from a single medical institution between July 2009 and October 2010. The subjects were divided into four groups: young healthy adults (Group 1, n = 22), healthy upper middle-aged adults (Group 2, n = 28), type 2 diabetics with satisfactory blood sugar control (Group 3, n = 21), and unsatisfactory blood sugar control (Group 4, n = 20). A self-developed six-channel electrocardiography (ECG)-PWV-based equipment was used to acquire 1000 successive recordings of PWV_foot values within 30 min. The data, thus, obtained were analyzed with multiscale entropy (MSE). Large-scale MSE index (MEI_LS) was chosen as the assessment parameter. Not only did MEI_LS successfully differentiate between subjects in Groups 1 and 2, but it also showed a significant difference between Groups 3 and 4. Compared with the conventional parameter of PWV_foot and MEI on R-R interval [i.e., MEI (RRI)] in evaluating the degree of atherosclerotic change, the dynamic parameter, MEI_LS (PWV), could better reflect the impact of age and blood sugar control on the progression of atherosclerosis.