Design and construction of wearable electrocardiogram to monitor cardiac activity in infants

Congenital heart disease is a major cause of infant mortality and its main characteristic is deviation of heart rate than normal. Heart monitoring is the basic requirement in infants with this disease. To evaluate cardiac function and behavior, the simplest method is cardiac monitoring. The aim of this study was to design and construct a wearable system with electrocardiogram signal processing for monitoring heart activity. In this study, flexible electrodes in the external layer of baby clothes were sewed and attached to the arm. One electrode was also placed in the right abdomen. Signals were continuously recorded through a serial network communication by an external personal computer. A software interface was used to display and process the signals in the computer. To validate results, the heart rate was obtained by the designed system and spo2 system. Statistical analysis was performed by using the t test in MATLAB software. In this study, 5 babies (2/2 ± 1/16-months) participated. The results show that the signal quality and the diagnostic information by the wearable system were comparable with standard systems. The mean heart rate by designed system was 130.46±6.89 and 134.06±10.32 by spo2 system. There was no significant difference in heart rate between the two systems (p<0.05). Using the wearable system can monitor cardiac activity continuously and Based on this system present a mechanism to reduce the risk of infant mortality from cardiovascular risk.