Blood Pressure and ECG Measurement Protocol

The participants abstained from strenuous physical activity for 24 h prior to testing. The participants abstained from caffeinated or stimulant beverages for 36 h and from alcohol for 72 h before BP and electrocardiogram (ECG) recording [23 (link)]. ECGs were obtained from patients who had fasted for 12 h overnight. Recordings were made in the morning period. After 3 min of rest, the BP was measured with a Welch Allyn sphygmomanometer. The participants were then instructed to stand in the supine position and to breathe normally [24 (link)]. An ECG model 26T-LTS with a 5-electrode configuration was used for data acquisition (ADinstruments^®, Bella Vista, NSW, Australia). The ECG was recorded for 10 min, and the data were exported and analyzed blindly [12 (link),25 (link)].