Key result
Smart textile girth band yields ECG quality comparable to standard electrodes in unrestrained horses.
Why the study?
Standard equine ECG devices rely on adhesive electrodes that can detach and reduce recording quality, creating a need to evaluate alternative smart textile electrodes knit with silver and carbon yarns.
Does a smart textile girth band provide comparable ECG signal quality to standard Ag/AgCl electrodes in unrestrained healthy horses?
Observational (n=22)
No
Does a smart textile girth band provide comparable ECG signal quality to standard Ag/AgCl electrodes in unrestrained healthy horses?
Absolute Event Rate: 21.8% vs 21.2%
p-value: p=>0.05
A smart textile girth band provides high-quality ECG recordings comparable to standard Ag/AgCl electrodes in unrestrained horses at rest, offering a practical alternative for veterinary monitoring.
Supports textile ECG monitoring in equine models; leaves open translation to human ambulatory applications.
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.
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McCrae et al. (2022) conducted an observational in Healthy (Equine) (n=22). Smart textile girth band vs. Ag/AgCl electrodes was evaluated on Kurtosis (k) value (p=>0.05). A smart textile girth band produced high-quality ECGs in unrestrained horses comparable to standard Ag/AgCl electrodes, with no significant differences in Kurtosis or signal quality index.
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