Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Quantified with Linear and Non-Linear Techniques to Classify Dilated and Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

In congestive heart failure (CHF), dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) are two highly related pathologies that are not fully characterized. The aim of this study is to assess respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) index of the parasympathetic system, in order to discriminate between both pathologies, DCM and ICM. For this, ECG-signals of 49 subjects (12 DCM patients, 21 ICM patients, 6 ICM patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) type II and 10 control subjects) from the database HERIS II and of 173 subjects (50 DCM, 50 ICM, 15 DCM with DM type II, 15 ICM with DM type II and 47 control subjects) from the database MUSIC2 were analyzed. The RSA was quantified using linear and non-linear analysis methods (fractal dimension and entropy). The results showed a significant difference between ICM and DCM subjects (p=0.013) with a sensitivity of 83% and specificity of 90%. Decreasing RSA values were present in CHF patients, especially in ICM patients, in comparison with healthy subjects. Alterations in the parasympathetic system due to DM were also identified.