The ECG Abnormalities in Persons with Chronic Disorders of Consciousness

Overview

Journal Med Biol Eng Comput

Publisher Springer

Specialties Biomedical Engineering
Medical Informatics

Date 2024 May 15

PMID 38750280

Authors

Xiaodan Tan

Minmin Luo

Qiuyi Xiao

Xiaochun Zheng

Jiajia Kang

Daogang Zha

Qiuyou Xie

Changan A Zhan

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the electrocardiogram (ECG) features in persons with chronic disorders of consciousness (DOC, ≥ 29 days since injury, DSI) resulted from the most severe brain damages. The ECG data from 30 patients with chronic DOC and 18 healthy controls (HCs) were recorded during resting wakefulness state for about five minutes. The patients were classified into vegetative state (VS) and minimally conscious state (MCS). Eight ECG metrics were extracted for comparisons between the subject subgroups, and regression analysis of the metrics were conducted on the DSI (29-593 days). The DOC patients exhibit a significantly higher heart rate (HR, p = 0.009) and lower values for SDNN (p = 0.001), CVRR (p = 0.009), and T-wave amplitude (p < 0.001) compared to the HCs. However, there're no significant differences in QRS, QT, QTc, or ST amplitude between the two groups (p > 0.05). Three ECG metrics of the DOC patients-HR, SDNN, and CVRR-are significantly correlated with the DSI. The ECG abnormalities persist in chronic DOC patients. The abnormalities are mainly manifested in the rhythm features HR, SDNN and CVRR, but not the waveform features such as QRS width, QT, QTc, ST and T-wave amplitudes.

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