An Automated Calibration System for Blood Pressure Measurement Traceability

摘要

The present study proposes an automated system to calibrate the measurement standards used for blood pressure traceability. Sphygmomanometers are the main devices used for noninvasive blood pressure measurement and are periodically verified in order to maintain their metrological characteristics. The verification is conducted using a working standard as reference. The calibration of those standards in an accredited laboratory ensures the traceability chain with known measurement errors and uncertainties, since both are a vital component for proper diagnosis of diseases like hypertension. The proposed system aims to decrease the influence of the metrologist over the calibrations, avoiding mistakes that may invalidate the results, as well as to optimize the workforce demanded for the increasing demand for calibration services. An interlaboratory comparison was also conducted to the Brazilian National Pressure Laboratory of INMETRO, the National Institute of Metrology in Brazil, for validation of the proposed method. The normalized error showed that the system produces reliable results. The results also showed that the inflation/deflation pump and valve are critical components of the system.