Skip to content

Slope-range ECG-derived respiration

What it does

Slope-range ECG-derived respiration estimates a beat-to-beat respiratory modulation signal from derivative ECG morphology around detected R waves.

When to use it

Use it when a respiratory signal is unavailable but reliable R-wave timing and a derivative ECG are available. It provides a relative respiration surrogate, not a measurement in physical respiratory units.

Canonical ID: ecg.sloperange

Inputs

Name Meaning Type Unit Requirements
decg Sampled derivative ECG signal. real vector a.u. minimum length: 2; no NaN; finite
r_wave_times R-wave occurrence times aligned with the derivative ECG. real vector s minimum length: 1; no NaN; finite
sampling_frequency Sampling frequency of the derivative ECG. real scalar Hz greater than: 0; no NaN; finite

Outputs

Name Meaning Type Unit
edr Beat-to-beat ECG-derived respiration amplitude series. real vector a.u.
upslopes Signal-aligned local upslope traces used for inspection. real vector a.u.
downslopes Signal-aligned local downslope traces used for inspection. real vector a.u.
upslope_max_positions Selected maximum-upslope position for each processed beat. real vector sample
downslope_min_positions Selected minimum-downslope position for each processed beat. real vector sample

How it works

For each R wave, the method compares the strongest local upslope with the strongest local downslope. Their difference forms the EDR amplitude. Signal-aligned slope traces and selected extrema positions are returned for visual inspection.

Interpretation and limitations

Interpret trends rather than absolute amplitudes. Incorrect R-wave detections, unstable QRS morphology, noise, or incomplete boundary windows can make the surrogate unreliable.

References

  • Stylianos Kontaxis et al. (2020). ECG-derived Respiratory Rate in Atrial Fibrillation. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering. doi:10.1109/TBME.2019.2923587
  • Carolina Varon et al. (2020). A Comparative Study of ECG-derived Respiration in Ambulatory Monitoring using the Single-lead ECG. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-62624-5

Implementations and technical resources

Python source | MATLAB source

Normative JSON | Validation cases