The correlation dimension in rest ECG: a study in normal and arrhythmic patients

A study on the results obtained from a computerized estimation of the correlation dimension (D/sub 2/) in short term rest ECG is described. Using D/sub 2/ we investigate the possibility to distinguish between normal and atrial flutter/fibrillatian tracings. The results have been obtained considering 28 short term ECG signals, 13 of those recorded from arrhythmic patients and 15 coming from normal subjects. From this study two observations have been pointed out: (i) ECG tracings from patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter present a higher value of the D/sub 2/ than those obtained from normal subjects; (ii) The values of some working parameters (the number of points and the time delay for phase space reconstruction) have been changed in order to check the robustness of results. The influence on D/sub 2/ estimates has been discussed.