Sex-Related Differences in Photoplethysmography Signals Measured From Finger and Toe
Open accessAbstract
Sex plays an important role in the normal cardiovascular system function including resting heart rate and arterial blood pressure. In addition, it has been reported that men and women are at different levels of risk for cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the temporal and morphological features of both finger and toe photoplethysmography (PPG), and anthropometric and biological parameters with respect to sex. A customized PPG and electrocardiography (ECG) combo device was developed to measure the signals of interest. ECG/PPG features in addition to subjects' information were compared regarding finger and toe PPGs. Eighty-eight subjects participated in the study. Linear regression and Student's t-test were used for statistical analysis. Our results revealed that pulse arrival time (PAT), pulse transit time (PTT), systolic pulse transit time (SPTT), and the ratio of areas under the PPG waveform from the onset to the inflection point and the inflection point to the end of the waveform (S2/S1), are dependent on sex. The highest dependence was shown for the finger PTT while the toe PTT did not indicate any significant dependence on sex. This is the first study that evaluates the effect of sex on cardiovascular system function using finger and toe PPG based features which can help to understand sex-based risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and to improve related disease management and treatments.
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Dehghanojamahalleh et al. demonstrated variations in PPG morphology attributed to gender differences, with direct influence of gender variation only significantly different at the upper peripheral measurement site such as the hand and fingers as opposed to lower extremities such as the ankle and feet.
“Dehghanojamahalleh et al. demonstrated variations in PPG morphology attributed to gender differences [105]. Interestingly, direct influence of gender variation was only significantly different at the upper peripheral measurement site such as the hand and fingers as opposed to lower extremities such as the ankle and feet.”
From Sources of inaccuracy in photoplethysmography for continuous cardiovascular monitoring (2021) · cites this paper as [105]
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- Authors
- Dehghanojamahalleh, S., & Kaya, M.
- Affiliations
- Florida Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kaya, Mehmet
- Venue
- IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine
- Published
- 2019
- Volume
- 7
- Pages
- 1-7
- ISSN
- 2168-2372 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6752633
- OpenAlex
- W2970804427
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3
- FWCI
- 0.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Florida Institute of Technology
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Non-Invasive Vital Sign Monitoring
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control
- Keywords
- sex differences, photoplethysmography, finger PPG, pulse transit time, pulse arrival time, cardiovascular function, cardiovascular risk, anthropometric parameters
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