Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, including details on sids, causes, prevention, statistics.

A fuzzy logic based apnoea monitor for SIDS risk infants.

Burke MJ, Downes R

Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland. mburke@tcd.ie

A unit has been designed which monitors newborn infants at risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) in a home environment. The unit monitors respiration, electrocardiogram (ECG) and haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) in combination, in order to detect any potentially life threatening event at an early stage. Provision is made for the generation of both audible and silent alarms and for the storage of signals and other information before, during and after an alarm episode for diagnostic purposes. An intelligent fuzzy logic algorithm is used to process the signals monitored and to implement several propositions concerning their status in order to determine the probability of an apnoea event and initiate the appropriate action. This has substantially reduced the number of false alarms and of undetected dangerous situations compared with previous units, which greatly improves the reliability and usefulness of such a monitor.

Published 24 October 2006 in J Med Eng Technol, 30(6): 397-411.
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