The interrater reliability and concurrent validity
of two methods of scoring the ensemble-averaged impedance
cardiogram were evaluated. Impedance cardiographic and
electrocardiographic signals were recorded from 40 undergraduate
men and women during a baseline rest period and a vocal
mental arithmetic task period. Recordings were scored by
four raters using a conventional method, involving ensemble
averaging after careful editing of beat-to-beat waveforms,
and a streamlined method, involving ensemble averaging
without beat-to-beat editing. Intraclass correlations for
interrater reliability exceeded .92, whereas intraclass
correlations for concurrent validity exceeded .97, indicating
excellent agreement between raters and scoring methods
for all cardiac measures. The streamlined method was significantly
faster than the conventional method. The results indicate
that variations in beat-to-beat editing do not constitute
a serious source of error in the ensemble-averaged impedance
cardiogram and support the interrater reliability and concurrent
validity of the two scoring methods.