The development of an interactive blood pressure device for telemedicine application

Consistent measurement of blood pressure (BP) is considered a vital activity for workers at the office and workplace to directly observe their blood pressure levels. Observing the measurement of blood pressure is commendable as a precautionary action against hypertension which is the main risk factor for stroke, heart and kidney disease. There is an enormous market for blood pressure measuring devices since demand for them is growing rapidly nowadays, not only in clinical practices but also among the public. The proposed prototype of a non-invasive cuff blood pressure meter uses an integrated pressure sensor, analog signal-conditioning circuitry, microcontroller and interfaced with a personal computer (PC) which is installed to an armchair. The interactive graphical user interface (GUI) was done using Visual Basic 6.0 language, with comprehensible features such as description related to the systolic and diastolic measurement, some advice and tips for improvement. The proposed device has been calibrated to the international standard and it shows significant improvement on the overall performance of blood pressure measurement instead of reliable results. Realibility test shows that there is strong agreement level between tested BP devices with proposed BP device. The Cronbach´s alpha value measure based on standardized items is more than 0.5 which strongly highlights that the validity of the measurement taken is reliable. Proposed device is compatible to be integrated with other vital sign circuits for future telemedicine applications.