Accurate blood pressure measurement

目前的临床问题：动脉血压升高(高血压)是全球第三大死亡原因。全球每年有1 700万人死于心血管疾病，高血压引起的并发症占940万人，中风和心脏病各占一半(世界卫生组织，《2014年全球非传染性疾病状况报告》，“实现九项全球非传染性疾病目标；共同承担责任”)。根据世界卫生组织的报告，“欧洲地区一半以上的死亡都是由心血管疾病引起的”。正确诊断高血压的第一个重要步骤是准确测量血压。这项研究项目将产生一种有效的诊断设备，它将有可能取代市场上所有现有的设备。世界各地都需要准确的血压测量。“黄金标准”是手动方法，有经验的临床医生听听诊器柯罗特科夫的声音，并查看袖带压力计。然而，由于在繁忙的诊所进行测量所需的培训和所需的时间，这一方法越来越没有得到充分利用，而且几乎从未在家里用于自我测量。目前不受欢迎的用自动化设备取代手动设备(不幸的是，它们都使用了示波测量技术)可能会导致同一患者对不同设备的测量结果截然不同。测量不准确是一个如此严重的问题，以至于英国卫生部不得不就目前的自动化设备发布了几个警告通知。我们的研究目的是开发一种准确和自动测量血压的新技术。我们以前的EPSRC研究所做的观察结果现在是这项拟议研究的基础，而且足够新颖，可以申请专利。与我们的工业合作伙伴合作，将使这项研究开发成为可供医院或家庭使用的适销对路的产品。最终受益将是患者和临床医生，他们将能够比现在更有效地诊断高血压和监测治疗。由于这项技术是一个全新的起点，它将为工程学和临床医学的学术研究开辟道路。

The current clinical problem: raised arterial blood pressure (hypertension) is the third leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiovascular disease causes 17 million deaths per annum globally with complications arising from high blood pressure accounting for 9.4 million, split evenly between stroke and heart disease (World Health Organization, Global Status Report on non-communicable diseases 2014, "Attaining the nine global non-communicable diseases targets; a shared responsibility"). The WHO reported that 'Cardiovascular disease causes more than half of all deaths across the European Region'. The first important step in correctly diagnosing hypertension is in the accurate measurement of blood pressure (BP). This research project will result in an effective diagnostic device that will have the potential to displace all current devices on the market.There is a worldwide need for accurate blood pressure measurement. The "gold standard" is the manual method, with an experienced clinician listening to the stethoscope Korotkoff sounds and viewing a cuff pressure scale. However, this is increasingly being underused because of the training needed and the time required for the measurement in busy clinics, and is almost never used for self measurement at home. The current undesirable move to replace manual by automated devices (they all unfortunately use the oscillometric technique) can result in radically different measurements on the same patient for different devices. Inaccurate measurement is such a problem that the UK Department of Health has had to issue several Warning Notices about current automated devices.The aim of our research is to develop a novel technique for accurately and automatically measuring blood pressure. Our previous EPSRC research made observations that are now the basis of this proposed research, and were sufficiently novel to enable a patent application.Working with our Industrial Partner will enable this research development to be taken to a marketable product available for hospital or home use.The ultimate benefit will be for patients and clinicians who will be able to diagnose high blood pressure and monitor treatment more effectively than now. Since the technology is a radically new departure it will open up avenues for academic research in engineering and clinical medicine.