Article

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the multifractal detrended
fluctuation analysis (MDFA) of skin blood flow oscillations (BFO) differed
between nondisabled controls and people with spinal cord injury (SCI). The study
of skin BFO has shown promise for assessing blood flow control mechanisms and
risk for pressure ulcers. We recruited 23 subjects, including 11 people with SCI
and 12 nondisabled controls. Thermally induced maximal sacral skin BFO were
measured by laser Doppler flowmetry. MDFA was used to characterize nonlinear
complexity of metabolic (0.0095 to 0.02 Hz), neurogenic (0.02 to 0.05 Hz), and
myogenic (0.05 to 0.15 Hz) BFO. We found that maximal vasodilation was
significantly smaller in people with SCI than in nondisabled controls (p < 0.05).
MDFA showed that metabolic BFO exhibited less complexity in people with SCI (p <
0.05), neurogenic BFO exhibited less complexity in people with complete SCI (p <
0.05), and myogenic BFO did not show significant differences between people with
SCI and nondisabled controls. This study demonstrated the feasibility of using
the MDFA to characterize nonlinear complexity of BFO, which is related to
vasodilatory functions in people with SCI.

Langue : ANGLAIS