Novel Parameters for ECG Signal Analysis Irrespective of Patient's Age, Sex and Heart Rate

Heart rates have normal values ranging from 60 to 80 beats per minute (bpm) for adults. RR distances have normal durations between 0.75 and 1 second. The complexes QRS durations have normal durations of less than 0.1 second. However, heart rate and RR distances also depend on age (adult or child), the patient's status (rest or stress), sex (male or female) and the patient's conditions (healthy or pathological). Heart rates, RR distances and QRS durations are not sufficient to determine whether ECGs are normal or pathological. Recently, two novel metrics have been calculated to reflect the regularity of RR distances and the QRS complexes durations irrespective of the patient's age, sex and heart rate. In this paper, these novel parameters were tested and validated on the arrhythmia (MIT-BIH), Abdominal and Direct Fetal ECG (ADFECGDB) and BIDMC Congestive Heart Failure (CHFDB) databases.