Recurring patterns in stationary intervals of abdominal uterine electromyograms during gestation

Abdominal uterine electromyograms (uEMG) studies have focused on uterine contractions to describe the evolution of uterine activity and preterm birth (PTB) prediction. Stationary, non-contracting uEMG has not been studied. The aim of the study was to investigate the recurring patterns in stationary uEMG, their relationship with gestation age and PTB, and PTB predictivity. A public database of 300 (38 PTB) three-channel (S1–S3) uEMG recordings of 30 min, collected between 22 and 35 weeks’ gestation, was used. Motion and labour contraction-free intervals in uEMG were identified as 5-min weak-sense stationarity intervals in 268 (34 PTB) recordings. Sample entropy (SampEn), percentage recurrence (PR), percentage determinism (PD), entropy (ER), and maximum length (L _MAX) of recurrence were calculated and analysed according to the time to delivery and PTB. Random time series were generated by random shuffle (RS) of actual data. Recurrence was present in actual data (p < 0.001) but not RS. In S3, PR (p < 0.005), PD (p < 0.01), ER (p < 0.005), and L _MAX (p < 0.05) were higher, and SampEn lower (p < 0.005) in PTB. Recurrence indices increased (all p < 0.001) and SampEn decreased (p < 0.01) with decreasing time to delivery, suggesting increasingly regular and recurring patterns with gestation progression. All indices predicted PTB with AUC ≥0.62 (p < 0.05). Recurring patterns in stationary non-contracting uEMG were associated with time to delivery but were relatively poor predictors of PTB.