Abstract
This paper gives a critical discussion of the methods which have been used for describing the time course of respiratory and heart beat rhythms in sleeping newborn babies. Methods which are candidates for this purpose are: non-overlapping or overlapping epochs on the one hand, and analysis on the basis of either intervals between events or counted events per unit of time on the other. The properties of the various descriptors obtained with the different procedures are reviewed. In conclusion, preference is given to the overlapping-epochs method and analysis in terms of counted events, i.e. number of heart beats and number of respirations within a time window.
Epoch length and window length should be selected such that they are adequate for the problem at hand.
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Scholten, C.A., Vos, J.E. Descriptors of the rhythmicity in respiration and heart beat of newborn infants. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 19, 83–90 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02443852
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02443852