System and method for generating a trend parameter based on respiration rate distribution

A system, comprising:

• a medical device comprising sensing circuitry;
• detection circuitry disposed in the medical device and coupled to the sensing circuitry, the detection circuitry configured to detect one or more respiratory parameters;
• and
• a processor coupled to the detection circuitry, the processor configured to calculate a distribution of a respiration rate comprising a histogram of the respiration rate developed from the one or more respiratory parameters, generate a trend parameter indicative of a ratio between areas under a curve of the histogram with at least one of the areas defined relative to a respiration rate threshold of the histogram, characterize heart failure status of the patient based on the trend parameter, and predict patient decompensation episodes using the trend parameter.

A system, comprising:

• means for detecting respiration of a patient over a period of time;
• means for computing a plurality of respiration rates for the period of time based on the detected patient respiration;
• means for calculating a distribution of the respiration rates by generating a histogram based on the plurality of respiration rates;
• means for generating a trend parameter based on the respiration rate distribution, the parameter based on a ratio between areas under a curve of the histogram, at least one of the areas defined relative to a respiration rate threshold of the histogram;
• characterizing heart failure status of the patient based on the trend parameter;
• and
• predicting patient decompensation episodes using the trend parameter.