A nonlinear parameterization of multivariate electrohysterographical signals

Comput Biol Med. 2015 Dec 1:67:13-20. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2015.10.005. Epub 2015 Oct 14.

Abstract

Electrohysterography is a technique which measures a bioelectrical activity of a uterus. This paper presents an application of a nonlinear parameterization of multivariate electrohysterographical signals for a uterine activity assessment to improve unsatisfactory a labor prediction accuracy by methods published in the literature. A multivariate sample entropy used for differentiated 4-channel electrohysterographical signals, general Spearman׳s correlation and a combined index being the sum of them, were tested. These nonlinear measures use joint information contained in a multivariate signal. The results confirm that the combined index provides the best assessment of uterine contractions: 87% sensitivity and 50% specificity of labor prediction in the studied data. These results should be verified in a prospective study.

Keywords: Electrohysterography; Multivariate sample entropy; Nonlinear signal analysis.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Electromyography / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Multivariate Analysis*
  • Nonlinear Dynamics
  • Pregnancy / physiology*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Uterine Contraction / physiology*
  • Uterine Monitoring / methods*
  • Uterus / physiology*