Estimation of Arterial Stiffness by Time–Frequency Analysis of Pulse Wave

Evaluation of a pulse wave is effective for the early diagnosis of arteriosclerosis because the pulse wave contains the reflected wave that is the age- and stiffness-dependent component. In this study, we attempted to extract the parameter reflecting the component by pulse wave analysis using continuous wavelet transform. The Morlet wavelet was used as the mother wavelet. We then investigated the relationship between the parameter and the reflected wave that was extracted from the pulse wave by our previously reported separation technique. Consequently, the result of wavelet transform of the differentiated pulse waveform changed markedly owing to age and had medium correlation with the peak of the reflected wave (R=0.68).