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Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

arstechnica.com

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Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#61

Post by acumenical »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #59
SoftTalker wrote: post #8

I’m not a doctor but my personal belief is that hypertension is over diagnosed. A lot of people have “white coat” syndrome, and pharma companies love to get people on never-ending prescriptions.

A lot of people have “white coat” syndrome I mean, go to a different doctor if yours somehow doesn't know about it. Mine all have. They help account for it by sending folks home with a blood pressure machine hooked up, which you wear for 24 hours. It regularly measures blood pressure - every 15 mintues, IIRC, including at night. In the US, I had a doctor suggest I take it outside of the office regularly so that we co…

> for-profit health insurance companies all would rather not pay for it

Do you really believe a for-profit company doesn't want profit?

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#62

Post by bladderlover23 »

ktta wrote: post #57
devjab wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way ADHD medicine works in Denmark, I need to get my blood pressure measured at my doctors office every 3 months, and a while back when it was around the limit of being too high, they wanted me to do it at home for a period. So I asked if I could use one of these finger things, or even just a wrist thing and their answer was a clear no. Exactly because the number is essentially useless medically by our national g…

What's the name of the medication?

Sounds like Bupropion.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#63

Post by NikolaNovak »

notdang wrote: post #25
NikolaNovak wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree and that's what's my Note 8 used to provide. As I said, some update made the mandatory a health or whatever app require an account, 2fa, and a lot of setup and personal data before it'd let me access the sensor read.

previous comment meant to out the fingeron the wrist and count the pulse by yourself, analog way.

Ah; yes I misinterpreted that thank you. Agree that would've done the trick for pulse :)

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#64

Post by AshamedCaptain »

This is not new at all. In the early 90s I had a Casio plastic watch that used a very similar method. http://digital-watch.com/DWL/1work/casio_bp-100/

A capacitive sensor to detect finger pressure and an optical one for the blood flow. Even cheaper than using a scale to detect pressure...

The accuracy of course leaves a lot to be desired.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#65

Post by itairall »

SoftTalker wrote: post #8

I’m not a doctor but my personal belief is that hypertension is over diagnosed. A lot of people have “white coat” syndrome, and pharma companies love to get people on never-ending prescriptions.

I just don't see what rational reason there is to say this when we have an epidemic of overweight people who don't exercise at all.

This is only going to get worse too as people who grew up overweight and not exercising get older.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#66

Post by sandworm101 »

hackernewds wrote: post #45
mhb wrote: post #3

Super clever. But one of the comments: This measures blood pressure in the fingers. There is no consistent way to translate that to a brachial artery blood pressure, which IS 'close enough' to the aortic valve. No calculations are needed, because the bloods pressure at the brachial artery will be only a few mm/Hg lower than it is at the aorta. But on the way to the fingers, the blood pressure lowers, and a multitude…

That is very interesting, since even in hospitals they have a finger squeeze blood pressure. Or what about taking blood pressure on the biceps.

A hospital is more interested in short-term changes in pressure than it is the actual number. A finger sensor will definitely detect when someonez's pressure crashes or rapidly elevates. Same is true for first responders dealing with trapped people (car crashes). The exact number will be wildly inaccurate given they arent in a proper seated position, but the delta over time is what matters.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#67

Post by mhb »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #34
thelastgallon wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The recommendation for bp reading is: Sit in a comfortable chair with your back supported for at least 5 minutes before your reading - https://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/measure.htm However, this doesn't happen. In US, you check in, sit in the waiting area, then a nurse takes you in, checks weight on the way to the room, then takes bp as soon as you sit. All done in 90 seconds to 2 mins. I thought I had high BP, but w…

Huh, I had no idea it was like that in the US. Where I live doctors measure blood pressure during the consults. There is no nurse.

Sometimes there's harmful cost-cutting and sometimes there's comparative advantage...

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#68

Post by rlkf »

kekeblom wrote: post #42
JimtheCoder wrote: post #21

I'll get excited when someone comes up with a user friendly continuous blood pressure monitor. Until then...

There is https://aktiia.com/uk/

The hardware seems nice, but to me it is a huge red flag that (1) the communication between the sensor and the phone is encrypted, so that no third-party app can ever be developed, and (2) it seems that your health data is uploaded to the "cloud" without any opt-out or possibility for local operation.

Re: Measuring blood pressure for less than a dollar using a phone

#70

Post by mwint »

paxys wrote: post #69

Great tech no doubt, but it's funny that they tout a $1 attachment to a $500+ smartphone as being more accessible to low income people than a $20 standalone blood pressure monitor.

Many low income people already prioritize having a phone over health(y/ier) food. And honestly, in today’s world that may not be as horrible a tradeoff as it first sounds.
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