Eli5: how does the blood pressure cuff determine your blood pressure so accurately?
In: 200
The other answers are correct only for manual blood pressure reading with a human and a stethoscope, which is famously inaccurate. The automated machine your doctor has uses an oscillometer. It measures variability in the pressure wave amplitude as the cuff pressure drops from above your systolic BP, past your mean pressure, past your diastolic BP. The amplitude is maximal at your mean pressure (very accurate) and exhibits a drastic change as it passes your systolic BP (less accurate, but not bad). It calculates your diastolic using an equation and the two other numbers.
Latest Answers