Age-related factors that confound peripheral pulse timing characteristics in Caucasian children

Abstract

Characteristics obtained from peripheral pulses can be used to assess the status of cardiovascular system of subjects. However, nonintrusive techniques are preferred when prolonged monitoring is required for their comfort. Pulse transit time (PTT) measurement has showed its potentials to monitor timing changes in peripheral pulse in cardiovascular and respiratory studies. In children, the common peripheries used for these studies are fingers or toes. Presently, there is no known study conducted on children to investigate the possible physiologic parameters that can confound PTT measure at these sites. In this study, PTT values from both peripheral sites were recorded from 55 healthy Caucasian children (39 male) with mean age of 8.472.3 years (range 5-12 years). Peripheries' path length, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were measured to investigate their contributions to PTT measurement. The results reveal that PTT is significantly related to all parameters (Po0.05), except for DBP and MAP. Age is observed to be the dominant factor that affects PTT at both peripheries in a child. Regression equations for PTT were derived for measuring from a finger and toe, (6.09 age þ 189.2) ms and (6.70 age þ 243.0) ms, respectively.

Pulse transit time ratio as a potential marker for paediatric crural and brachial blood pressure index

“…6,7 Third, PTT measurements were acquired from the recruited children in the sitting rather than supine position. Further research is required to fully understand the potential PTTR differences between the two said postures.…”

“…5 A simple non-invasive physiological measure termed as PTT has shown its usefulness in clinical studies. 6,7 PTT is generally used as an indirect measure associated with changes in the arterial wall stiffness that is in turn affected by BP changes. It can be defined as the time delay between the R-wave of an electrocardiogram (ECG) and the corresponding pulsation at a selected periphery detected by photoplethysmography (PPG) of a pulse oximeter.…”

“…6 The number of children in each age group were 5 years (n ¼ 8), 6 years (n ¼ 5), 7 years (n ¼ 8), 8 years (n ¼ 8), 9 years (n ¼ 6), 10 years (n ¼ 6), 11 years (n ¼ 8) and 12 years (n ¼ 6). Mean SBP was 107.478.6 mm Hg, diastolic BP was 65.977.9 mm Hg and heart rate (HR) was 86.1712.6 b.p.m.…”

“…The data used in this study were collected previously and full experimental details were documented elsewhere. 6 Institutional ethical approval and informed consent from the child and/or parent were obtained. A standalone PTT device previously described (with a 1 ms resolution) 6,7 was used in conjunction with an ECG monitor (S&W Medico, Teknik, Denmark) and a pulse oximeter (Novametrix Medical Systems Inc., Wallingford, CT, USA).…”

“…6 Institutional ethical approval and informed consent from the child and/or parent were obtained. A standalone PTT device previously described (with a 1 ms resolution) 6,7 was used in conjunction with an ECG monitor (S&W Medico, Teknik, Denmark) and a pulse oximeter (Novametrix Medical Systems Inc., Wallingford, CT, USA). As the PTT technique can be highly temperature sensitive, all measurements in the study were performed in a typical sleep laboratory at a controlled ambient temperature of 251C and between 0900 and 1100 h.…”