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Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

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Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#51

I have High Blood Pressure. 140/100 when non-medicated during the office day. 110/85-90, medicated and relaxed. Having this since 25 (37 now), my genetics sadly puts a cap on my life expectancy (all other vitals normal, HBP runs in family). All this to say, I hate measuring my BP and follow this space closely. It's a chore that takes minimum 10 minutes twice a day and I have to largely stop what I'm doing. I would gi…

Expensive, but have you seen this?

https://omronhealthcare.com/products/heartguide-wearable-blo...

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#52

This device monitors pressure needed to cause transient digital arteriolar occlusion using MEMs sensors. It then uses an algorithm that uses this data along with pulse oximetry data to estimate the brachial arterial blood pressure. In situations where it actually matters ( patients with abnormally low or high BP, patients with low peripheral perfusion, patients with peripheral vasoconstriction, critically ill patient…

Exactly my thoughts. It'll work well in well people, and mild outliers, but it's probably [harmful] junk for anybody with any serious conditions.

I guess it might have value if you calibrate it against a good measurement in both arms and then only compare it to historical measurements with the same device. That's to say, it can show you change, which isn't unimportant.

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None at all. Being ~5'9" & 135 lbs, my back-of-the-napkin BMI is ~20. Fitness is pretty low these days given COVID, but I used to be quite fit (former Fitness company). That didn't really move my BP much. My biggest levers for BP are salt intake and work stress. Currently a co-founder so work stress is rather high handled with a bit of mitigation practices like meditation, but definitely not enough. Overall I'm on bo…

A significant minority are quite sensitive to salt. I fixed my high blood pressure by reducing salt intake. I got it down to hunter-gather levels - less than 1 g per day and combined with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables for potassium. It took a week before I started to notice my BP falling. Came down from 135/85 to 115/70 over a period of 12 weeks. Also cut out alcohol, anything more than a glass of wine raises my…

Can confirm. I cook a salt-free cuisine for my relative [1] who has kidney disease and must aggressively control their blood pressure and I can go entire months without eating anything with any salt at all. There was a bit of an adjustment to be had in the first few months, from what I recall, but I was surprised to what degree my taste buds adjusted after a while. Nowadays, I can't enjoy normally salted food because it registers as very salty. I have particular trouble with cheeses, even cheese like feta or camembert that only have about 1.5 - 2% salt.

Speaking of cheese and bread, most of the internet will say it's impossible, but I've found some evidence online (reddit threads and blog posts and the like) of people who actually make both bread and cheese without salt at all (because of hypertension) and they seemed to be doing fine. This was about half a year ago so I can't find the sources again, but in any case salt-free cheese and bread making is possible. I've made a few loaves of bread without salt myself and they're OK, though they taste a lot better when they're made wth sourdough (which is a pain to maintain) rather than dried yeast, because the sourdough adds taste and the dried yeast only air!

What's the problem with butter? I can find both salt-free and salt-full in most countries in the EU that I've visited.

_______

[1] well... I cook for the entire household :)

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#54
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None at all. Being ~5'9" & 135 lbs, my back-of-the-napkin BMI is ~20. Fitness is pretty low these days given COVID, but I used to be quite fit (former Fitness company). That didn't really move my BP much. My biggest levers for BP are salt intake and work stress. Currently a co-founder so work stress is rather high handled with a bit of mitigation practices like meditation, but definitely not enough. Overall I'm on bo…

140/100 isn't going to call time on you tomorrow. There are people on that who go rolling along for years. I'm sure neither you nor your GP like this rating but its important not to catastrophise. If you have some specific co-morbidity that might be different: e.g. leaky blood vessels in the brain or atherosclerosis. Not a GP, not giving advice.

Unfortunately hypertension can cause great damage if left untreated for a long time: kidney disease and heart disease most obviously but from my understanding, any organ that has blood vessels can be affected and damaged, including brain, eyes, liver, lungs... The OP is not catastrophising, but trying to be pragmatic (although I hope that with treatment they will be able to live as long as they would have without the hypertension).

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#55
post #30
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yes in some cases it is in "real time", but do you know of doctors offices caught selling health data? That seems wildly unethical, and also very illegal. I'd imagine anybody caught doing that would be in jail.

My point was that your data is safer with a doctor's office then with a "platform": > And while you might assume that this information is legally protected the same way your hospital and medical records are, that’s not necessarily the case. https://www.consumerreports.org/health-privacy/are-health-ap...

A device that measures your blood pressure and sends the results directly via an encrypted connection to your health care provider can be very useful, certainly beats lying in a hospital bed with a printout that the doctor checks every few hours.

They key thing is, as always, ensuring that your data remains your property. Europe is bigger on that than the US.

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#56
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

140/100 isn't going to call time on you tomorrow. There are people on that who go rolling along for years. I'm sure neither you nor your GP like this rating but its important not to catastrophise. If you have some specific co-morbidity that might be different: e.g. leaky blood vessels in the brain or atherosclerosis. Not a GP, not giving advice.

Unfortunately hypertension can cause great damage if left untreated for a long time: kidney disease and heart disease most obviously but from my understanding, any organ that has blood vessels can be affected and damaged, including brain, eyes, liver, lungs... The OP is not catastrophising, but trying to be pragmatic (although I hope that with treatment they will be able to live as long as they would have without the…

As a hypertension sufferer I know the harm it can cause but as a 140/100 for over twenty five years aged 59 with intermittent treatment, I'm struggling with the idea it's an imminent problem in and of itself compared to eg untreated 160/120 or worse.

Reading around, health standards vary by economy. Maybe australia has a different cutoff bp to the USA. The nih say you need five visits to be assessed on 140/100.

Many people with hypertension have comorbidities. Diabetes for instance, which also causes neuropathy.

Is it ideal? No. Far from it. I wish I could get mine lower. I see my health professional regularly, I am taking my prescribed medication, and I exercise. I have had no signal that I am facing imminent demise. Far from it.

That's all I meant really: if there is no other problem, I think treated 140/100 could be sustained for some time.

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#57
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and TONS of platforms wanted to warehouse this data. My coworker and I were there looking for exactly those sorts of things, and it was great to see so much. As I read your comment, I had a growing expectation that you were about to express horror at the mass gathering and warehousing of individuals' health data. I was very surprised when you expressed such excitement at the prospect.

If you acknowledge the threats, you should acknowledge the opportunities as well. Expressing "horror" every time data is mentioned in connection with health data is a very one-sided reflex. Surely, there are challenges, but why not solve them?

Completely agree. A lot of suspicion out there; a balance with optimism is important

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A significant minority are quite sensitive to salt. I fixed my high blood pressure by reducing salt intake. I got it down to hunter-gather levels - less than 1 g per day and combined with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables for potassium. It took a week before I started to notice my BP falling. Came down from 135/85 to 115/70 over a period of 12 weeks. Also cut out alcohol, anything more than a glass of wine raises my…

Can confirm. I cook a salt-free cuisine for my relative [1] who has kidney disease and must aggressively control their blood pressure and I can go entire months without eating anything with any salt at all. There was a bit of an adjustment to be had in the first few months, from what I recall, but I was surprised to what degree my taste buds adjusted after a while. Nowadays, I can't enjoy normally salted food because…

Maybe I wasn't looking hard enough for butter. I was mainly using it for cooking and ended up using olive oil for most things. I used to have a bread machine, and bread seemed to bake just fine without salt. Store bought bread without salt was impossible to find.

Re: Cuffless device delivers clinically accurate blood pressure measurements

#60
post #39
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they are just saying the data is more likely to be secure if it is recorded at your doctor's office, which seems reasonable to me. Let's say it is a blood pressure reading taken by your Fitbit and uploaded to Google's servers. That data is not subject to HIPAA regulations. When your doctor takes your blood pressure and records it in your chart, it is subject to those regulations (as you say, it would be wildl…

>That data is not subject to HIPAA regulations. You can be HIPAA compliant and on Google servers. https://cloud.google.com/security/compliance/hipaa/

The point wasn't that they couldn't be HIPAA compliant but that they don't have to be.
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