Spectral Analysis of Photoplethysmography Signal in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases and Healthy Subjects

this study presents the results of the spectral analysis of the photoplethysmographic signals obtained from the healthy subjects and the patients with early pre-clinical stages of arterial hypertension, coronary artery disease, and aortic valve stenosis patients. The normalized power density of the low-frequency (LF%) oscillations is significantly higher in the cardiovascular patients, while the normalized power density of the high-frequency (HF%) oscillations and the LF/HF ratio are significantly lower in comparison to the healthy subjects. Aging had no significant effect on the spectral indexes. It was shown that the spectral analysis of the photoplethysmographic signals can be used to diagnose the dysfunction of the autonomic control even at early pre-clinical stages of cardiovascular diseases.