Combining Machine Learning and Signal Processing to Identify Hypertension from the ECG

High blood pressure or HPT is a severe disease, and patients may have no symptoms in the early stages. Due to low awareness and without proper treatment, this may be more harmful to hypertensive patients and increase chances of cardiovascular diseases.
The HPT occurs when the systolic blood pressure (SBP) is greater than 140 mmHg, or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is greater than 80 mmHg. This is a severe medical condition arising from a force of the blood against the artery walls. It makes the blood pressure to build up in the arteries when the heart pumps oxygen-rich blood to the parts of the body. HPT may damage vital organs of the body, such as lungs, brain, heart, and kidneys. The possible reasons for HPT are less physical activity, lifestyle, smoking, stress, family history, and kidney diseases. Some common symptoms of HPT are headaches, panic attacks, dizziness, vision change, anxiety, and depression. Hence, it is pivotal issue to develop awareness, medical care, and treatment for HPT.
The clinical HPT can be classified as Mild, Moderate, and Severe class. Risky cardiovascular diseases are on the rise and HPT has become more prevalent. HPT is usually diagnosed through a prolonged period of elevated arterial blood pressure. HPT causes serious complications such as stroke, heart attack, kidney failure and more in the absence of proper treatment. Consequently, the recent WHO report states that HPT leads to 9.4 million deaths annually. Many people do not even realize that they are suffering from the silent disease (HPT). Therefore, it is crucial to detect HPT in the early stage to ease the problem and avoid further complications.
The traditional method to measure blood pressure is the cuff-based mercury sphyg­ momanometer. These traditional methods depend on medical specialists to get precise measurements and accurate readings. Additionally, it is not accurate and inconvenient for usage in a home environment. Moreover, HPT is a complex condition which may lead to unpredictable fluctuations in blood pressure of an individual. Analyzing and predicting the disease status via sphygmomanometer measurements may not be accurate, since the instrument only provides SBP and DBP values.