No more BP Cuff? Researchers Developing Android App for Blood Pressure Monitoring
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh pioneered a new approach to blood pressure monitoring by using the devices we carried with us every day.
Ramakrishna Mukkamala, professor of bioengineering at Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering, is passionate about developing accessible blood pressure (BP) detection tools. Instead of designing a new medical device to monitor BP, Mukkamala decided to take advantage of what is in nearly everyone’s pockets smartphones and figure out how to detect blood pressure using sensors already built into them.
Mukkamala’s team harnessed tools already built into most smartphones, like motion-sensing accelerometers, front cameras, and touch sensors to build a smartphone application on an Android that can measure an individual’s pulse pressure. The user performs a hand-raising motion while holding the smartphone to make a measurement.
The findings published in Scientific Reports, demonstrate a promising new technology that could uniquely help reduce the burden of systolic hypertension globally, particularly in underserved populations.
Turning a smartphone into a monitoring device is no easy task, as Vishaal Dhamotharan, graduate student in the Cardiovascular Health Tech Laboratory, found out through multiple iterations of app development. Because smartphones don’t have force sensing tools, a crucial element of the project was figuring out how to replicate the effects of a traditional blood pressure exam using only a cell phone, which the team solved by using a familiar force — gravity.
“Because of gravity, there's a hydrostatic pressure change in your thumb when you raise your hands up above your heart, and using the phone’s accelerometer, you're able to convert that into the relative change in pressure,” Dhamotharan said.
“Development of a cuffless blood pressure measurement device that does not require any external calibration is the holy grail such a device currently does not exist,” said Sanjeev Shroff, collaborator and bioengineering department chair.
Systolic hypertension, or high blood pressure is the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the top cause of death globally. This app could bring blood pressure monitoring software to any smartphone owner, enabling consistent self-monitoring and easy sharing of results with healthcare providers.
“This app would be really useful in low-income settings where people may not even have existing access to blood pressure tools,” Dhamotharan said. “Being able to measure blood pressure more frequently would allow an individual to track any significant changes in blood pressure, monitor for hypertension, and be able to manage their conditions with that knowledge.”
Reference: Landry, C., Dhamotharan, V., Freithaler, M. et al. A smartphone application toward detection of systolic hypertension in underserved populations. Sci Rep 14, 15410 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-65269-w
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