Blood Pressure via Smartphone Camera: Validation against Auscultatory Measurements

Hypertension, or chronically high blood pressure, is the leading risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which constitute the main cause of death worldwide. With close to 1.5 billion hypertensive individuals globally, the need for accessible and accurate means of screening and monitoring blood pressure is key in fighting this epidemic. Smartphones, which are widely available, could play a leading role, provided that their ability in providing accurate blood pressure measurements is demonstrated. We present hereafter a validation study performed on 85 patients of a hypertension clinic where our pulse wave analysis algorithm oBPM® estimated blood pressure from optical signals acquired at the fingertip of the patients via a smartphone camera. The results, compared to auscultatory measurements, demonstrate compliance with the ISO 81060-2 standard for non-invasive sphygmomanometers.