Poincaré plots to analyze photoplethysmography signal between non-smokers and smokers

Abstract

An analysis of blood circulation was used to identify variations of heart rate and to create an early warning system of autonomic dysfunction. The Poincaré plot analyzed blood circulation using photoplethysmography (PPG) signals between non-smokers and smokers in three different indices: SD1, SD2, and SD1 SD2 ratio (SSR). There were twenty subjects separated into non-smoker and smoker groups with sample sizes of 10, respectively. An independent sample t-test to compare the continuous variables. Whereas, the comparison between two groups employed Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables. The result showed that SD1 was found to be considerably lower in the group of smokers (0.03±0.01) than that of the non-smokers (0.06±0.03). Similarly, SSR was recorded at 0.0012±0.0005 and 0.0023±0.0012 for smoking and non-smoking subjects, respectively. As a comparison, SD2 for non-smokers (25.7±0.5) was lower than smokers (27.3±0.4). In conclusion, we revealed that the parameters of Poincaré plots (SD1, SD2, and SSR) exert good performances to significantly differentiate the PPG signals of the group of non-smokers from those of smokers. We also supposed that the method promises to be a suitable method to distinguish the cardiovascular disease group. Therefore, this method can be applied as a part of early detection system of cardiovascular diseases.