An apparatus and method for determining blood pressure has a control unit and a device for providing pulse wave data representative of a heart beat of a human subject. The subject has a body height, an age, and a gender. The control unit is configured for receiving the pulse wave data, selecting a portion of the pulse wave data indicative of one or more heart periods, and, for each respective heart period of the one or more heart periods, determining a systolic component of the respective heart period, approximating the systolic component with a first Gaussian function and a second Gaussian function, and determining a time difference between the first and second Gaussian functions. The blood pressure value of the subject is determined based on the time difference, the body height, and the age.
