Electrocardiography and vital signs recorded in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage

This dataset includes electrocardiography and vital signs recording in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage during their stay in the intensive care unit. Participants in this clinical trial (NCT04557618) were randomized to receive either the transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) or Sham treatment. The goal of this study is to study the cardiovascular effects of taVNS in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Methods
A 3-lead system was used for electrocardiograms (ECG). ECG signals, sampled at 500 Hz, and other vital signs, such as blood pressure, sampled at 1 Hz, were recorded from the Intellivue patient monitor (Philips®, Netherlands) using vitalDB software. We removed all personally identifiable information from the dataset, such as names and contact details. Please see reference 1 for a detailed description of the study protocol.

Following randomization, enrolled patients underwent 20 minutes of either taVNS or sham stimulation twice daily during their stay in the ICU. During treatment periods, a portable transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) device (TENS 7000 Digital TENS Unit, Compass Health Brands, OH, USA) was connected to the patient’s left ear using two ear clips. For taVNS treatments, these ear clips were placed along the concha of the ear, while for sham treatments, the clips were placed along the earlobe to avoid stimulation of the auricular vagus nerve from tactile pressure. For the taVNS group, stimulation parameters were selected based on values reported in prior studies that sought to maximize vagus somatosensory evoked potentials while avoiding the perception of pain: 20 Hz frequency, 250 µs pulse width, and 0.4 mA intensity30. The stimulation was not perceptible for the patients. No electrical current was delivered during sham treatments. For both groups, the TENS device was connected to the patient and a bedside recording computer. The computer recorded continuous ECG and vital signs, including blood pressure, temperature, respiration rate, peripheral perfusion index, intracranial pressure, and arterial blood pressure. The collection of intracranial pressure and arterial blood pressure data varied, being dependent on the treatment protocol assigned by the clinical team, and thus was not uniformly available for all patients throughout the study. Any empty values in the .csv files indicate that the data was unavailable at the given time. For example, blood pressure measurements were taken according to the physicians' schedule and were not available at every time point.

1.    Huguenard, A. et al. Non-invasive Auricular Vagus nerve stimulation for Subarachnoid Hemorrhage (NAVSaH): Protocol for a prospective, triple-blinded, randomized controlled trial. PLOS ONE vol. 19 e0301154 (2024).