Accurate blood pressure measurement

目前的临床问题：动脉血压升高（高血压）是全世界第三大死亡原因。心血管疾病每年在全球造成1 700万人死亡，高血压引起的并发症占940万人，其中中风和心脏病占940万人（世界卫生组织，《2014年全球非传染性疾病现状报告》，“实现全球非传染性疾病九项目标；共同责任”）。世界卫生组织报告称，“在整个欧洲地区，心血管疾病导致的死亡人数占所有死亡人数的一半以上”。正确诊断高血压的第一步是准确测量血压（BP）。这项研究项目将产生一种有效的诊断设备，将有可能取代市场上所有现有的设备。全世界都需要精确的血压测量。“黄金标准”是手动方法，由经验丰富的临床医生听听诊器Korotkoff声音并查看袖带压力刻度。然而，由于需要培训和在繁忙的诊所进行测量所需的时间，这种方法越来越没有得到充分利用，而且几乎从未用于在家进行自我测量。目前用自动化设备（不幸的是，它们都使用振荡测量技术）取代手动设备的做法是不可取的，可能导致同一患者使用不同的设备进行完全不同的测量。不准确的测量是这样一个问题，英国卫生部不得不发布几个警告通知关于目前的自动化设备。我们研究的目的是开发一种准确自动测量血压的新技术。我们之前在EPSRC的研究中所做的观察现在是这项研究的基础，并且足够新颖，可以申请专利。与我们的工业合作伙伴合作将使这项研究发展成为可用于医院或家庭使用的可销售产品。最终的好处将是患者和临床医生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.