Cardiopulmonary monitoring at home: the CHIME monitor

A new physiologic monitor for use in the home has been developed and used f or the Collaborative Home Infant Monitor Evaluation (CHIME). This monitor m easures infant breathing by respiratory inductance plethysmography and tran sthoracic impedance; infant electrocardiogram, heart rate and R-R interval; haemoglobin O-2 saturation of arterial blood at the periphery and sleep po sition. Monitor signals from a representative sample of 24 subjects from th e CHIME database were of sufficient quality to be clinically interpreted 91 .7% of the time for the respiratory inductance plethysmograph, 100% for the ECG, 99.7% for the heart rate and 87% for the 16 subjects of the 24 who us ed the pulse oximeter: The monitor detected breaths with a sensitivity of 9 6% and a specificity of 65% compared to human scorers. It detected all clin ically significant bradycardias but identified an additional 737 events whe re a human scorer did not detect bradycardia. The monitor was considered to be superior to conventional monitors and, therefore, suitable for the succ essful conduct of the CHIME study.