Prospects of Photoplethysmography as a Screening Method for Vegetative Vascular Dysfunction

The review provides data on the prospects for using photoplethysmography as a method for early detection of diseases of the cardiovascular system and screening for vegetative-vascular dysfunction in patients. The literature search was carried out from 2004 to 2024 on the websites Pubmed, Springer, eLIBRARY in Russian and English. According to modern data on the pathogenesis of the development of pathology of the cardiovascular system, one of the main mechanisms is autonomic dysfunction, which determines a cascade of events leading to changes in the properties and structure of the vascular wall. Methods for assessing vegetative imbalance are presented, in particular, the photoplethysmography (PPG) technique, which allows recording periodic ˜uctuations in various blood frequencies in the distal vascular bed, characterizing physiological processes (cardiac activity, respiratory in˜uences, neurogenic, intrinsic endothelial activity). In addition, other diagnostic possibilities of PPG are considered, such as assessment of heart rate and analysis of heart rate variability, determination of vascular wall properties, blood saturation level (pulse oximetry), microcirculatory conditions. PPG allows to identify changes in the venous vascular system that may occur due to venous occlusion, varicose veins of the lower extremities. The calculated parameters obtained from the use of PPG can be used for early detection of predictors of a number of diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. PPG is accessible, cost-e—ective and easy to use, which makes it an indispensable diagnostic tool both for disease screening and for assessing the e—ectiveness of therapy and rehabilitation measures in various †elds of medicine: cardiology, neurology, pulmonology, sports, physical and rehabilitation medicine.