Cuff-less blood pressure estimation using hetero-core optical fibers

Abstract

In this study, we proposed a cuff-less blood pressure measurement using a medical tape sensor with an embedded hetero-core optical fiber. The tape sensor pasted on the skin can directly detect pulse wave signals with a simple measuring device. Pulse transit time (PTT) was obtained from the time difference between the two pulse waveforms at the neck and foot. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was estimated from PTT and the regression equation. The result shows that the maximum prediction error was 3.8 mmHg in five healthy young subjects. The SBP data were evaluated using a Bland-Altman method to assess the agreement of SBP data estimated by the proposed method with those measured by the cuff-based electronic sphygmomanometer. The mean ± 1.96 standard deviation of the estimated SBP against the reference was −1.3 ± 5.1 mmHg. The results show that the proposed noninvasive blood pressure measurement method can measure blood pressure, and its accuracy is comparable to that of the cuff-based electronic sphygmomanometer.