Blood Vessel Age Prediction Using Photoplethysmography Signal Analysis Method

This paper describes an application of Photoplethysmography (PPG) signal analysis method to predict the blood vessel age. This research uses arterial stiffness index (SI), because there is a relationship between age and stiffness index variation that show a fluctuation in blood vessel properties. This is found by measuring the time difference of occurrence of the systolic peak and diastolic peak. The PPG signal is taken from the fingertip by using a pulse oxymetry. This device is developed by using a pulse oximeter sensor MAX 30100 that is connected to Arduino UNO microcontroller which read the data from the sensor output. Readable data is stored in datalog form using Serial Oscilloscope application. The Matlab is used for processing the stored data, so it can be retrieved and displayed in a waveform. From the experiment it is found that the average stiffness index for the age group (21-23) is 4.45 m/s, while for the age group (55-57) is 6.95 m/s. This shows that blood vessel stiffness increases with age. The formula for predicting the age of blood vessels has been tested on two subject samples who are 21 years old with a height of 151 cm and 23 years with a height of 171 cm. The results show they have healthy blood vessels, because the predicted age of their blood vessels is 13 years for a subject aged 21 years, and 20 years for a subject at the age of 23 years, so it is younger than their actual age.