title: Nonlinearity of EHG signals used to distinguish active labor from normal pregnancy contractions.
abstract: Labor prediction using the electrohysterogram has immediate clinical applications and has been the aim of several studies in recent years. Studies using various linear methods such as classic spectral analysis do not give clinically useful results. In this paper we present the use of two methods that investigate nonlinearity to predict normal labor. We show the comparison between a linear method that is known from the literature (mean power frequency) and two nonlinear methods (approximate entropy and time reversibility) using ROC analysis. The comparison indicates that the best method for pretreatment to classify pregnancy and labor signals is time reversibility. The results indicate that time reversibility is a very promising tool for distinguishing between labor and physiological contractions during pregnancy. This could be the first step in developing a clinical application method to predict preterm labor.
authors.affiliation: School of Science and Engineering, Reykjavik University, 103 Iceland. hassan@ru.is
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Terrien
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alexandersson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marque
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Karlsson
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019540:Area Under Curve; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D004576:Electromyography / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000175:diagnosis; D011247:Pregnancy; D012372:ROC Curve; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013997:Time Factors; D014590:Uterine Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018590:Uterine Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods