A new methodology of blood pressure measurement through the oscillometric method

Accurate measurement of blood pressure (BP) is of great importance in a medical diagnostic. It can be obtained by different methods. Nowadays, most BP devices use the oscillometric method which estimates systolic and diastolic BP through different algorithms. Unfortunately, the precision of these devices is always questioned and doctors prefer the use of traditional auscultatory-based methods. In this paper, a new oscillometric method for BP measurement is proposed. In fact, the proposed method is based on the design of a BP device which first detects and maintains the cuff pressure at the level of mean BP then the continuous determination of systolic and diastolic BP. device was assessed by measuring the systolic and diastolic BP on 20 healthy volunteers. The measured pressures were compared with those obtained by two commercially available BP devices. The results show a very high correlation coefficient (r = 0.97), an almost perfect agreement coefficient (kappa = 0.81), and a low mean absolute error (3.43 mmHg). The proposed methodology has a high probability to be complied with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation and the British Hypertension Society (Grade A) standards, and can greatly improve the measurement of blood pressure using the oscillometric approach. (paper)