Comparison of a three-quarter electrode band configuration with a full electrode band configuration for impedance cardiography.

Impedance cardiography is a technique commonly used in psychophysiological studies. However, concerns about the utility of full circumferential band electrodes (FB) have been raised. The current study was designed to compare FB with a three-quarter circumferential band configuration (PB). A total of 47 participants (66% female, mean [SD] age=20.4 [3.0] years) underwent 2 testing sessions, once using FB and once using PB. Session order was randomized and balanced. Each session consisted of 5 min of rest, math task, recovery, and cold pressor test. Average baseline and task pre-ejection period (PEP), stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) was calculated from impedance cardiography and blood pressure monitoring. Participants were are asked to rate measures of comfort after each session. There were no significant difference between the mean levels of PEP, SV, CO, HR, and TPR for the PB versus the FB configurations. However, both systolic BP and diastolic BP were higher during the FB session. Intraclass correlations were high (r(icc) =.63-.93) between PB and FB. Bland-Altman analyses revealed a low level of bias (≤5%) between the configurations. Based on limits of agreement between ±30%, there was equivalence in PEP between the 2 configurations, and SV, CO, and TPR were close to reaching equivalence. Participants clearly indicated greater comfort with the PB configuration compared to the FB. The current study provides incremental evidence that suggests a three-quarter PB configuration may be utilized for standard psychophysiological testing instead of the standard FB configuration. However, further studies are needed to validate the PB configuration against other techniques.