Use of the electrohysterogram signal for characterization of contractions during pregnancy

This article proposes a method to evaluate the ability of the electrohyster ogram signal to characterize the contractions during pregnancy, in a popula tion with high risk of preterm deliveries. This study constitutes a first s tage of a project intended to develop a monitoring system for the early dia gnosis of preterm deliveries. After a proper signal denoising, we calculate some parameters characteristi c of the extracted contractions. These contractions are then divided into c lasses of different physiological terms. Classical techniques of data analy sis, such as principal component analysis and discriminant analysis, permit us to show an evolution of the contractions during pregnancy, which is dif ferent between the groups of preterm deliveries and that of deliveries at t erm. We show that, in an early term of pregnancy, we can separate the two p opulations: women delivering at term from women delivering preterm. We then show that these two kinds of pregnancy are of different evolutions. These results are encouraging, because they would permit, in a follow-up me dical study, to diagnose a possible preterm delivery as well as the proximi ty of the delivery.