A device for the automatic measurement of blood pressure in epidemiologic studies

An automatic blood pressure apparatus was devised for use in an epidemiological study that required self-administered measurements of blood pressure for up to 200 students each week over a school year. A Dinamap device was used to determine systolic and diastolic blood pressures by the oscillometric method. An Apple II Plus computer with one disc drive was used for control of the device and storage of data. Two such apparatuses were assembled and used to make more than 6,000 recordings of blood pressure over a six-month period. Except for some initial problems with a computer component, the apparatuses performed well; successful blood pressure recordings were obtained 99% of the time. Use of the automatic devices proved to be very acceptable to students. It is concluded that the use of such devices offers a reasonable means for obtaining accurate measurements of blood pressure and may be applicable for many epidemiologic studies.