The apnea-ECG database

Penzel, T.  Moody, G.B.  Mark, R.G.  Goldberger, A.L.  Peter, J.H.


This paper appears in: Computers in Cardiology 2000
Publication Date: 2000
On page(s): 255-258
Meeting Date: 09/24/2000 - 09/27/2000
Location: Cambridge, MA, USA
ISBN: 0-7803-6557-7
References Cited: 8
INSPEC Accession Number: 6839885
DOI: 10.1109/CIC.2000.898505
Posted online: 2002-08-06 23:25:29.0

Abstract
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder with a high prevalence in the adult
male population. Sleep apnea is regarded as an independent risk factor
for cardiovascular sequelae such as ischemic heart attacks and
stroke. The diagnosis of sleep apnea requires polysomnographic studies
in sleep laboratories with expensive equipment and attending
personnel. Sleep apnea can be treated effectively using nasal
ventilation therapy (nCPAP). Early recognition and selection of
patients with sleep related breathing disorders is an important
task. Although it has been suggested that this can be done on the
basis of the ECG, careful quantitative studies of the accuracy of such
techniques are needed. An annotated database with 70 nighttime ECG
recordings has been created to support such studies. The annotations
were based on visual scoring of disordered breathing during sleep