Heart rate variability analysis is more sensitive at identifying neonatal sepsis than conventional vital signs

Fredrick J. Bohanon, Amy A. Mrazek, Mohamed T. Shabana, Sarah Mims, Geetha L. Radhakrishnan, George C. Kramer, Ravi S. Radhakrishnan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background Sepsis remains the largest preventable source of neonatal mortality in the world. Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis and noninvasive cardiac output have been shown to be useful adjuncts to sepsis detection in many patient groups. Methods With Institutional Review Board approval, 4 septic and 6 nonseptic extremely low birth weight patients were enrolled. Data from septic and healthy patients were collected for 5 hours. Electrocardiogram waveform and traditional vital signs were collected and the RR intervals were calculated; then HRV analysis was performed in both the time and frequency domain. Results HRV measurements in time domain, heart rate, and pulse oximetry (SpO2) were significantly different in septic patients vs nonseptic controls. Conclusions These results indicate that nonconventional vital signs such as HRV are more sensitive than traditionally used vital signs, such as cardiac output and mean arterial pressure, in the confirmation of sepsis in extremely low birth weight neonates. HRV may allow for earlier identification of septic physiology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)661-667
Number of pages7
JournalAmerican journal of surgery
Volume210
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc.All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Heart rate variability
  • Neonatal
  • Noninvasive vital signs
  • Sepsis

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