Assessing heart rate and blood pressure estimation from image photoplethysmography using a digital blood pressure meter

Heliyon. 2024 Feb 24;10(5):e27113. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27113. eCollection 2024 Mar 15.

Abstract

This study presents a non-contact approach to measuring heart rate and blood pressure using an image photoplethysmography (iPPG) signal, and compares the results to those from an oscillometric blood pressure meter. Facial videos of 100 subjects were recorded via a webcam under ambient lighting conditions to extract iPPG signals. The results revealed a strong correlation between the heart rate derived from iPPG and that obtained from an oscillometric blood pressure meter. In addition, a continuous wavelet transform images with a 6-s duration were used as input for a custom convolutional neural network model, providing the most accurate blood pressure estimation. The proposed method received a grade A for diastolic and grade B for systolic blood pressure based on the British Hypertension Society's criteria. It also met the standards set by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation. This non-contact framework shows promising potential for efficient screening purposes.

Keywords: Blood pressure; Convolutional neural network; Heart rate; Non-contact; Wavelet transform.