A smart textile girth band provided excellent ECG quality in unrestrained horses, with no significant differences in kurtosis (21.8 vs 21.2) or motion artifacts compared to standard electrodes.
Does a smart textile band provide comparable ECG quality to standard Ag/AgCl electrodes in unrestrained horses?
A smart textile band provides a practical and reliable alternative to standard adhesive electrodes for high-quality ECG monitoring in unrestrained horses.
Absolute Event Rate: 21.8% vs 21.2%
Electrocardiography (ECG) is an essential tool in assessing equine health and fitness. However, standard ECG devices are expensive and rely on the use of adhesive electrodes, which may become detached and are associated with reduced ECG quality over time. Smart textile electrodes composed of stainless-steel fibers have previously been shown to be a suitable alternative in horses at rest and during exercise. The objective of this study was to compare ECG quality using a smart textile girth band knit with silver and carbon yarns to standard adhesive silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes. Simultaneous three-lead ECGs were recorded using a smart textile band and Ag/AgCl electrodes in 22 healthy, mixed-breed horses that were unrestrained in stalls. ECGs were compared using the following quality metrics: Kurtosis (k) value, Kurtosis signal quality index (kSQI), percentage of motion artifacts (%MA), peak signal amplitude, and heart rate (HR). Two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparison tests was conducted to compare each metric. No significant differences were found in any of the assessed metrics between the smart textile band and Ag/AgCl electrodes, with the exception of peak amplitude. Kurtosis and kSQI values were excellent for both methods (textile mean k = 21.8 ± 6.1, median kSQI = 0.98 0.92−1.0; Ag/AgCl k = 21.2 ± 7.6, kSQI = 0.99 0.97−1.0) with <0.5% (<1 min) of the recording being corrupted by MAs for both. This study demonstrates that smart textiles are a practical and reliable alternative to the standard electrodes typically used in ECG monitoring of horses.
McCrae et al. (Wed,) conducted a other in Healthy horses (n=22). Smart textile girth band knit with silver and carbon yarns vs. Standard adhesive silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes was evaluated on ECG quality metrics including Kurtosis (k), Kurtosis signal quality index (kSQI), percentage of motion artifacts (%MA), peak signal amplitude, and heart rate. A smart textile girth band provided excellent ECG quality in unrestrained horses, with no significant differences in kurtosis (21.8 vs 21.2) or motion artifacts compared to standard electrodes.