The development of a software program for analyzing skin conductance changes in preterm infants

Objectives: Changes in palmar and plantar skin conductance (SC) are due to outgoing bursts in the postganglionic efferent sympathetic cholinergic fibres, which respond to changes in the central arousal state. An apparatus that measures SC by applying an alternating voltage is sensitive enough to measure SC changes in preterm infants. The purpose of this study was to develop a software program for analyzing SC in premature infants. Methods: The software program was designed to calculate the number and mean amplitude of the waves and the mean SC changes during a given period. Different pre-set values for minimum amplitude, maximum slope and minimum width of the waves were used in the program and the results were compared with manually counted waves. Results: For SC waves, the optimal minimum amplitude was found to be 0.015 μS, the maximum slope of the waves could, with the same result, be 1, 2 or 5 μS/s and the optimal width of the waves was found to be unlimited. Conclusions: SC in preterm infants is easily analyzed by this software program.