An Unobtrusive, Wireless and Wearable Single-Site Blood Pressure Monitor Based on an Armband Using Electrocardiography (ECG) and Reflectance Photoplethysmography (PPG) Signal Processing

Abstract

Wearable medical devices (WMDs) for healthcare applications have become ubiquitous, allowing remote, at-home, and real-time chronic monitoring that have significantly decongested clinics. These WMDs permitted the monitoring of several physiological parameters, such as heart and respiration rates, SPO2, temperature, and energy expenditure during activities of daily living (ADLs) or fitness activities. While the measurement of these parameters has become common, full noninvasive, unobtrusive, and real-time blood pressure (BP) monitoring remains elusive owing to BP’s complex dynamics. To bring this into fruition, several works have been conducted combining different biosignals to indirectly extract BP by using PTT. Unlike previous works, we considered PTT variability by averaging it over discrete durations to account for BP variability for a more accurate estimation. PTTs were obtained using electrocardiograph (ECG) and reflective photoplethysmograph (rPPG) signals extracted by a wearable device attached to a single site on the upper arm. Our results show a significant correlation between average PTT and the BP measured using auscultation in a trial study. The developed system has potential for chronic, noninvasive, and cuff-less blood pressure monitors (BPMs) for localized and single-site implementations. Meanwhile, real-time data from the wearable device may be accessed via a remote desktop or a mobile phone application.