Blood Pressure Measurement and Management Telemedicine System Based on a Smart-Phone

Abstract

Variation of blood pressure throughout the day is one of the reasons why it is increasingly evident that the traditional way of measuring blood pressure in the clinic or office frequently produces numbers that grossly overestimate patientâ??s true blood pressure level. This is a major problem, since it is one of the most important and frequent measurements made by physicians. High blood pressure (BP) (hypertension) is a leading chronic condition in the globe and a major risk factor for severe diseases. Measuring the BP as accurately as possible can save a lot of human lives. However, the measurement and management platform can still be improved. In this paper, we describe a complete low-cost prototype system that we have developed for this purpose that can be part of and m-Health platform. Our BP telemedicine device is based on the oscillometric method for measuring BP. A microcontroller oversees measurement operations, to process acquired readings, and to calculate the heart-rate. A smart mobile phone commands the operation of our developed system via Bluetooth. A custom Windows Mobile application software was designed and developed to command the operation of this platform and to receive these vital measurements in a convenient manner. Obtained measurements can be stored on the mobile device to form a local database or transmitted via a designated wireless protocol.