Seismocardiography for Screening Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease: Preliminary Evidence from a Prospective Study

Seismocardiography for Screening Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease: Preliminary Evidence from a Prospective Study | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Seismocardiography for Screening Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease: Preliminary Evidence from a Prospective Study Jean Fonteyne, Amin Hossein, Elza Abdessater, Thomas Stefanidis, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9587774/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are the most common congenital malformations, and early detection is essential to reduce their morbidity and mortality. This prospective study evaluated the feasibility and diagnostic relevance2 of seismocardiography (SCG), a non-invasive technique that records vibrations induced by cardiac activity and blood flow at the sternal surface. SCG signals were analysed using median waveforms of linear and rotational kinetic energy computed over electrocardiogram-defined cardiac phases. Ninety-two children (age 1 day–16 years; body surface area (BSA) 0.2–1.74 m²) were included: 18 with innocent murmurs, 36 with murmurs caused by CHD and 38 controls. Patients with congenital heart disease were younger and had lower weight and body surface area (BSA) (all p < 0.05). Recordings were interpretable in 84.8% of the cases. After adjustment for age and BSA, children with CHD presented increased SCG linear kinetic energy during the PQ phase (β = 0.80, p < 0.001) and increased rotational kinetic energy over the cardiac cycle (β = 0.56, p = 0.02), whereas children with innocent murmurs did not seem to differ from controls. Matched analyses revealed elevated rotational energy in ventricular septal defects and pulmonary stenosis, but not in atrial septal defects. SCG appears feasible in pediatric populations and may provide a low-cost, portable adjunct for murmur evaluation. Larger validation studies are required to establish diagnostic accuracy and clinical integration. Health sciences/Cardiology Health sciences/Diseases Health sciences/Health care Health sciences/Medical research Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 17 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 06 May, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 06 May, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 06 May, 2026 Editor invited by journal 05 May, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 04 May, 2026 First submitted to journal 04 May, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9587774","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":640495017,"identity":"e9a5dbfe-f46c-4775-bf33-f63b9b253dff","order_by":0,"name":"Jean 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Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9587774/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9587774/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eCongenital heart diseases (CHD) are the most common congenital malformations, and early detection is essential to reduce their morbidity and mortality. This prospective study evaluated the feasibility and diagnostic relevance2 of seismocardiography (SCG), a non-invasive technique that records vibrations induced by cardiac activity and blood flow at the sternal surface. SCG signals were analysed using median waveforms of linear and rotational kinetic energy computed over electrocardiogram-defined cardiac phases. Ninety-two children (age 1 day\u0026ndash;16 years; body surface area (BSA) 0.2\u0026ndash;1.74 m\u0026sup2;) were included: 18 with innocent murmurs, 36 with murmurs caused by CHD and 38 controls. Patients with congenital heart disease were younger and had lower weight and body surface area (BSA) (all p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). Recordings were interpretable in 84.8% of the cases. After adjustment for age and BSA, children with CHD presented increased SCG linear kinetic energy during the PQ phase (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.80, p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001) and increased rotational kinetic energy over the cardiac cycle (β\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.56, p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.02), whereas children with innocent murmurs did not seem to differ from controls. Matched analyses revealed elevated rotational energy in ventricular septal defects and pulmonary stenosis, but not in atrial septal defects. SCG appears feasible in pediatric populations and may provide a low-cost, portable adjunct for murmur evaluation. Larger validation studies are required to establish diagnostic accuracy and clinical integration.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Seismocardiography for Screening Pediatric Congenital Heart Disease: Preliminary Evidence from a Prospective Study","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-05-15 17:52:45","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9587774/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"283402724011002109093990633808368134494","date":"2026-05-17T07:16:42+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"294978312449182615794805548530931865907","date":"2026-05-06T11:07:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-05-06T10:31:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-05-06T06:43:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-05-06T03:10:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-05-04T20:56:06+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-05-04T20:51:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4bfb7398-c54a-42d3-a7f4-9ecf7264bccb","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 15th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"283402724011002109093990633808368134494","date":"2026-05-17T07:16:42+00:00","index":41,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"294978312449182615794805548530931865907","date":"2026-05-06T11:07:28+00:00","index":31,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"18","date":"2026-05-06T10:31:16+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-05-06T06:43:37+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-05-06T03:10:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-05-04T20:56:06+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-05-04T20:51:05+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":68155428,"name":"Health sciences/Cardiology"},{"id":68155429,"name":"Health sciences/Diseases"},{"id":68155430,"name":"Health sciences/Health care"},{"id":68155431,"name":"Health sciences/Medical research"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-15T17:52:46+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-05-15 17:52:45","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9587774","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9587774","identity":"rs-9587774","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}