Impact of Regular Physical Activity on Patterns of Age-Related Changes in Photoplethysmogram Appearance Obtained at Fingertip

Objective To validate the association between age and photoplethysmogram appearance, explore the impact of regular physical activity to pulse shape pattern and quantify the effect on trend of relative changes with advancing age. Methods This experiment involved 231 Chinese participants (aged 21-60 years, mean 40.10 ± 11.61 years), and their photoplethysmography signals were recorded from left index finger in rest state. The categorical analysis of IPAQ was performed to classify the subjects into levels of regular physical activity. Results Significant correlation coefficients were observed positively for age and Aging Character Index, which supported the previously reported view of association between age and changes in pulse shape characteristics. Significant differences of Aging Character Index between levels of regular physical activity were observed and quantitatively analyzed in all age groups. Conclusion The impact of regular physical activity to aging effect can be quantitatively measured through biological marker derived from photoplethysmogram appearance for dose-response analysis.