Distinguishing preeclampsia using the falling scaled slope (FSS) --- a novel photoplethysmographic morphological parameter.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia (PE) presence could lead to hemodynamic changes. Previous research suggested that morphological parameters based on photoplethysmographic pulse waves (PPGW) could help diagnose PE. AIM: To investigate the performance of a novel PPGPW-based parameter, falling scaled slope (FSS), in distinguishing PE. To investigate the advantages of the machine learning algorithm over the conventional statistical methods in the analysis. METHODS: Eighty-one pieces of PPGPW data were acquired for the study (PE, n = 44; normotensive, n = 37). The FSS values were calculated and used to construct a PE classifier using the K-nearest neighbors (KNN) algorithm. A predicted PE state varying from 0 to 1 was also calculated. The classifier's performance in distinguishing PE was evaluated using the ROC and AUC. A comparison was conducted with previously published PPGPW-based models. RESULT: Compared to the previous PPGPW-based parameters, FSS showed a better performance in distinguishing PE with an AUC value of 0.924, the best threshold of 0.498 could predict PE with a sensitivity of 84.1% and a specificity of 89.2%. As for the analysis method, training a classifier using the KNN algorithm had an advantage over the conventional statistical methods with the AUC values of 0.878 and 0.749, respectively. CONCLUSION: The result indicated that FSS might be an effective tool for identifying PE. Moreover, the machine learning algorithm could further help the data analysis and improve performance. [Figure see text].