Parameters for mean blood pressure estimation based on electrocardiography and photoplethysmography

The focus of this paper is continuous non-invasive blood pressure monitoring. We used electrocardiography (ECG) and photoplethysmography (PPG) to compute pulse arrival time (PAT) between heart and finger. PAT was measured as the time difference between the R-peak of ECG and a characteristic point of PPG. We defined different characteristic points on PPG and compared their suitability for blood pressure estimation. Measurements were made on a group of 10 volunteers using an invasive blood pressure meter as reference. Generally, the best results were achieved when using time intervals from R-peak of ECG to the relative minimum preceding the rising edge of PPG. However, for some participants, differing parameters gave better results.