Apparatus and methods for screening, diagnosis and monitoring of respiratory disorders

A system comprising:

• an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor;
• a respiratory therapy device comprising a controller configured to operate the respiratory therapy device for alleviating a respiratory disorder;
• and
• one or more processors configured to:
• remove artefacts from an ECG signal generated by the ECG sensor to produce artefact-removed ECG data, wherein the removing of the artefacts from the ECG signal comprises:
• filtering the ECG signal;
• differentiating and squaring the filtered ECG signal;
• finding an envelope of the squared derivative of the filtered ECG signal;
• partitioning the envelope into a plurality of windows;
• and
• computing an autocorrelation function for each of the windows;
• analyze the artefact-removed ECG data, wherein the analyzing comprises (a) extracting an ECG-derived respiratory (EDR) signal from the artefact-removed ECG data or (b) estimating a respiratory rate from the artefact-removed ECG data;
• and
• control an operation of the respiratory therapy device based on the analyzing of the artefact-removed ECG data for alleviating the respiratory disorder.

A method comprising:

• removing, with one or more processors, artefacts from an electrocardiogram (ECG) signal generated by an ECG sensor to produce artefact-removed ECG data, wherein the removing of the artefacts from the ECG signal comprises identifying portions of the ECG signal that differ from other portions of the ECG signal by comparing autocorrelation functions of a plurality of windows derived from the ECG signal;
• analyzing, with the one or more processors, the artefact-removed ECG data, wherein the analyzing comprises (a) extracting an ECG-derived respiratory (EDR) signal from the artefact-removed ECG data or (b) estimating a respiratory rate from the artefact-removed ECG data;
• and
• controlling, with the one or more processors, an operation of a respiratory therapy device based on the analyzing of the artefact-removed ECG data for alleviating the respiratory disorder.