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.