Biomedizinische Technik. Biomedical engineering
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Vital parameter monitoring of term and preterm infants during incubator care with self-adhesive electrodes or sensors directly positioned on the skin [e.g. photoplethysmography (PPG) for oxygen saturation or electrocardiography (ECG)] is an essential part of daily routine care in neonatal intensive care units. For various reasons, this kind of monitoring contains a lot of stress for the infants. Therefore, there is a need to measure vital parameters (for instance respiration, temperature, pulse, oxygen saturation) without mechanical or conductive contact. ⋯ PPGI was found to be significantly sensitive to movement artifacts. However, for movement classes 1-4, changes in blood perfusion according to the heart rate (HR) were recovered successfully (Pearson correlation: r=0.9759; r=0.765 if class 5 is included). The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Universal Hospital of the RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany (EK 254/13).