Analysis of cardiac dynamics in patients with Chagas disease using the PCA

Miguel Vizcardo1 and Esteban Segundo Alvarez2
1Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa, 2Universidad Central de Venezuela


Abstract

Chagas disease, also called American trypanosomiasis, is caused by a flagellated parasite: trypanosoma cruzi, transmitted by an insect of the genus Triatoma and also by blood transfusions. In Latin America the number of infected people is approximately 6 million, with a population exposed to the risk of infection of 70 million people. It is our interest to develop a low-cost, non-invasive methodology capable of describing cardiac dynamics within 24 hours and thus finding descriptors of dynamics that allow early detection of cardiac abnormality caused by T. cruzi. We analyzed 24-hour RR records in patients with ECG abnormalities (CH2), patients without ECG abnormalities (CH1) who had positive serological findings for Chagas disease and healthy (Control) paired by sex and age. We found significant differences in dynamics between the three Control groups, CH1 and CH2, using the HRV heart rate variability indices and the PCA principal component analysis method.