DOI: 10.31797/vetbio.1931961 ISSN: 2548-1150

Investigation of the relationship between heart rate measured automatically at different time intervals using the 3M littmann 3200 electronic stethoscope and heart rate measured by electrocardiography

Ömer Aydın
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Cardiac auscultation is an indispensable method in the examination of cats. With a traditional stethoscope, heart murmurs, gallop rhythms, and heart rate (HR) may not always be accurately assessed because of ambient noise interference. However, electronic stethoscopes (ESs) provide more uniform and amplified acoustic signals, allowing more accurate identification of physiological and pathological heart sounds during auscultation. The aim of this study was to determine the agreement, differences, and correlation between HR automatically measured using a 3M Littmann 3200 ES over 15-, 30-, and 60-second intervals and HR obtained by electrocardiography (ECG) in 34 healthy cats of various breeds, ages, and sexes. To this end, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Bland–Altman, and Spearman’s correlation analyses were performed. ICC analysis showed moderate agreement between ECG and ES at the 15- and 60-second measurement intervals (r = 0.661, P < 0.001; r = 0.700, P < 0.001, respectively), whereas the 30-second interval demonstrated higher agreement (r = 0.812, P < 0.001). According to Bland-Altman analysis, 30-second HR measurements by ES showed the closest agreement with ECG (bias = 5.03; 95% limits of agreement = -34.34 to 44.40), compared to 15 seconds (bias = 9.41; -48.34 to 67.16) and 60 seconds (bias = 9.06; -41.88 to 59.99). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that 30-second measurements obtained with the 3M Littmann 3200 ES provide heart rate measurements comparable to those obtained by ECG in healthy cats.

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