Development of a Networked Blood Pressure Monitoring System

Healthcare costs are expected to increase at double-digit rates in the coming years. Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death of males in the U.S. and consumes a large share of these healthcare dollars. If untreated, hypertension can lead to heart attack or even death. If detected early, hypertension can often be reversed through diet, exercise, and pharmaceuticals, thus reducing the likelihood of catastrophic disease, hospitalization, and death. The objective of this project was to develop and implement a work-based network environment at Southwest Research Institutereg (SwRIreg) to monitor the arterial health of SwRI employees. The goal of this implementation was to establish a network of existing medical devices and to investigate improving employee health through use of the developed network. Existing blood pressure monitors were modified and connected to the SwRI network. A Web-based system was developed using open source software components and LabVIEWtrade to collect data measured by the blood pressure equipment and to present the collected data to the users. A total of 109 SwRI employees were enrolled in the program. Over a 7(1/2) month period during which blood pressure stations were installed, 1705 blood pressure measurements were obtained. The average systolic and diastolic measurements were 124 and 74, respectively, and 85% of the measurements were either normal or prehypertensive. Overall, 63.3% of the participants utilized a single blood pressure station to obtain measurements, usually the one closest to where they worked