Twenty-four hour automatic monitoring of blood pressure and heart rate at work and at home.

It proved feasible and practical to automatically record indirect blood pressure at 15 minute intervals with a 4 pound portable device throughout a 24 hour period in five subjects at work and at home, awake and asleep. Of the subjects, two were apparently healthy and three had coronary artery disease, mild essential hypertension, and emphysema, respectively. Most striking was the hypotension accompanying sleep, which was greatest in the hypertensive subject and least in the subject with emphysema. Activity, while mainly walking, resulted in only modest changes in pressure. There was a tendency toward slight pressure rises associated with eating and modest tachycardia while driving a car. There was a tendency in all five subjects to exhibit somewhat higher pressures during the first 4 to 5 hours after awakening.