Effect of Dyslipidemia on a Simple Morphological Feature Extracted from Photoplethysmography Flow Mediated Dilation

摘要

Dyslipidemia is considered to be one of the main heart risk factors, affecting the endothelial vascular function, which can be non-invasively investigated by ultrasound flow-mediated dilation (US-FMD). However, US-FMD comes at a high-cost and is operator-dependent. In this paper, the effect of dyslipidemia on the photoplethysmogram (PPG) signal recorded from collateral index fingers is investigated following a previous study where it was shown that results similar to that of US-FMD can be replicated by the PPG. Two groups, consisting of 30 healthy subjects free from any risk factors and 30 subjects who have only dyslipidemia as risk factor were respectively considered. The percent change in the AC (peak-to-peak) values versus time of the PPG after flow release following 4 min of brachial artery blockage (reactive hyperemia) was obtained (PPG-FMD). Results indicate that a very simple morphological feature allows for a significant (p < 0.00001) discrimination between the control and pathologic groups.