Development of Non-Restraint Blood Pressure Measurement Method Utilizing PWV

Abstract

Abstract-Hypertension is a major risk factor of ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. In order to prevent hypertension, it is important to measure blood pressure regularly. Non-restraint blood pressure measurement method would make daily measurement convenience. The purpose of this study is to develop a novel non-restraint measurement method and device of PWV (Pulse Wave Velocity) that relates to blood pressure strongly and verify the feasibility of measuring PWV with the proposed method. We developed pressure plethysmogram sensors that could detect BCG (Ballistocardiogram), and attached it on a chair. PWV was calculated from two characteristic points of BCG, which were the rising point of H wave and the bottom of I wave. In the experiment, developed system is applied to five participants, and measured values of PWV are increased according to values of systolic blood pressure. In addition, the correlation coefficients are enough to imply the relationship between PWV measured by our device and systolic blood pressure. In conclusion, we developed a novel non-restraint measurement method and device of PWV that relates to blood pressure strongly and confirmed that correlation between systolic blood pressure and PWV by using this method and device.  Index Terms-blood pressure, pulse wave velocity (PWV), ballistocardiogram (BCG), non-restraint measurement