doi:10.1109/JBHI.2017.2775059engMilagro, JavierGil, EduardoLázaro, JesúsSeppä, Ville-PekkaMalmberg, L. PekkaPelkonen, Anna S.Kotaniemi-Syrjänen, AnneMäkelä, Mika J.Viik, JariBailón, RaquelNocturnal Heart Rate Variability Spectrum Characterization in Preschool Children with Asthmatic SymptomsART-2017-103093Asthma is a chronic lung disease that usually develops during chilhood. Despite that symptoms can almost be controlled with medication, early diagnosis is desirable in order to reduce permanent airway obstruction risk. It has been suggested that abnormal parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS) activity might be closely related with the pathogenesis of asthma, and that this PSNS activity could be reflected in cardiac vagal control. In this work, an index to measure the spectral regularity of the high frequency (HF) component of heart rate variability (HRV) spectrum, named peakness (P), is proposed. Three different implementations of P, based on electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings, impedance pneumography (IP) recordings and a combination of both, were employed in the characterization of a group of pre-school children classified attending to their risk of developing asthma. Peakier componentswere observed in the HF band of those children classified as high-risk (p < 0.005), who also presented reduced sympathvoagal balance. Results suggest that high-risk of developing asthma might be related with a lack of adaptability of PSNS.2017http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/6993110.1109/JBHI.2017.2775059http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/69931oai:zaguan.unizar.es:69931info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/TIN2014-5356-Rinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/BES-2015-073694This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No H2020 745755-WECARMONinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/745755/EU/Wearable Cardiorespiratory Monitor/WECARMONIEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics 22, 5 (2017), 1332-1340All rights reservedhttp://www.europeana.eu/rights/rr-f/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess