People often talk about blood pressure and the dangers of high or low blood pressure. Yet, not many people actually understand the role blood pressure monitoring plays in the medical research being done today to find the breakthrough cures of tomorrow. Blood pressure refers to the pressure of your heart, pushing blood out (systolic pressure) and the pressure when your heart is resting between beats (diastolic pressure).
Why Is Blood Pressure Important?
Blood pressure readings provide a crucial part of the picture for many researchers. Blood pressure can tell us a lot about what’s going on inside our bodies. High blood pressure can increase your risk of coronary heart disease and kidney disease, among other detrimental long-term health conditions. Low blood pressure is also worrying.
Excessively high blood pressure can also lead to conditions like hypertension. Symptoms of hypertension include chest pain, dizziness, and shortness of breath. Though less common than high blood pressure, low blood pressure can also lead to serious problems such as heart failure.
Not only is blood pressure (either too high or too low) indicative of many health problems, but it is also a symptom of other diseases one could have. This makes blood pressure readings essential data points for a wide range of research projects. Many academics, specifically biologists, neuroscientists, and psychologists, use blood pressure to determine the effect of an intervening variable on the primary object/person.
How Is Blood Pressure Measured?
There are two primary methods of measuring blood pressure: non-invasive and invasive. Non-invasive blood pressure is often shortened to NIBP. Invasive blood pressure is a common technique to measure blood pressure in a clinical setting.
Invasive blood pressure works by directly measuring arterial pressure. This is done by inserting a needle in a suitable artery. The tip of the needle is connected to a sterile, fluid-filled system that is then connected to a monitor. Invasive blood pressure constantly monitors your blood pressure and gives you live readings on a screen side by side.
Invasive blood pressure has made academic biological research much easier. Live blood pressure updates allow academics to monitor in-time responses to stimuli, much like an ECG monitors heart rate.
Invasive Blood Pressure Software
Technology has furthered the efficiency of invasive blood pressure measurement and recording techniques. Software applications can automatically detect cardiovascular abnormalities in invasive blood pressure readings, cutting out much of the legwork that previously had to be done manually by research scientists.
Invasive blood pressure measurement, coupled with its software applications, have made academic research simpler. Data acquisition is made easier and automated to a large extent. These applications also store all invasive blood pressure readings. This simplifies the comparison of data readings gathered over time. Researchers can also detect abnormalities without having to monitor readings constantly. These software applications will simply inform the user of an abnormality if it were to occur.
