Developing a Method of Measuring Blood Pressure Using a Video Recording

Since blood pressure is an indicator of health, measuring it regularly is important. In this study a new method for blood pressure measurement is developed using a video camera and digital image processing. Four subjects were filmed and their blood pressure was measured with a cuff-based monitor. Then, the video was processed frame by frame. The shift in frames between two separate areas of the arm, was calculated with a signal extracting Matlab algorithm. Based on the time shift a blood pressure was estimated. The cuff-based monitor’s results were then compared with the estimated blood pressure. The results had a relatively high error percentage of around 10-15 %. With further development, this method could be accessible for anyone with a smartphone, which would be a great step towards a more efficient health care.