Title: Changes in heart rate variability and pulse wave characteristics during normal pregnancy and postpartum

Authors: S.T. Veerabhadrappa; Anoop Lal Vyas; Sneh Anand

Addresses: Instrument Design Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India ' Instrument Design Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India ' Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

Abstract: In the present study, the ongoing maternal haemodynamic and cardiovascular changes during pregnancy and postpartum stage have been studied using pulse waveform analysis. The ECG and pulse are simultaneously recorded from the subjects in the first trimester, second trimester, third trimester pregnant women and postpartum. The heart rate variability (HRV) and the pulse characteristics such as pulse rate interval (PR), peak to peak amplitude (PP), rise time (T₁), width (W), slope (dV/dt) of the percussion wave are measured and pulse transit time (PTT) in each cardiac cycle is computed. The analysis shows that mean PR, PP, T₁, slope, W and PTT are statistically significant differences during pregnancy compared to the postpartum stage. The results suggest that pulse parameters can be used for quantification of sympathetic and parasympathetic activities and the haemodynamic changes during pregnancy.

Keywords: electrocardiography; ECG; pulse waveform analysis; pulse transit time; pregnancy; heart rate variability; pulse wave characteristics; postpartum; maternal haemodynamic changes; maternal cardiovascular changes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2015.068045

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2015 Vol.17 No.2, pp.99 - 114

Received: 24 Apr 2014
Accepted: 23 Jun 2014
Published online: 15 Mar 2015 *

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