Hypertension or raised blood pressure (BP) is affecting 1.5M Norwegians (1.13 billion people worldwide). It is a major cause of premature deaths worldwide. Better monitoring of BP and its variations is vital to identify and help individuals at risk. However, state-of-the-art 24h measurements are unsatisfactory as they are limited to intermittent measurements (3-4 per hour). The inflatable cuff around the upper arm may cause stress and pain, which thereby introduces errors in the measurements. The equipment currently available for these measurements disturbs and limits normal daily life. When used during the night, it often leads to interrupted sleep. Pain, stress and disrupted sleep induced by the equipment may result in incorrect evaluation of blood pressure.
The goal of the Hypersension 2.0 project is to develop a cuff-less wearable device (a sensor belt) that delivers BP measurements for every heartbeat. In addition, the sensor belt aims to measure and deliver other physiological data and important contextual information which affects BP such as activity level, body posture, ECG, sleeping patterns, breathing rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen saturation. Besides the wearable device, we will also develop a complete system for monitoring and safely transmitting data, making the data available both for patients and clinical professionals, thereby empowering patients in finding the optimal treatment plan in cooperation with clinical professionals.
The consortium consists of complementary partners which have a close relationship from previous projects:
- Aidee Health AS (project owner), which originates from the research institute SINTEF and Datek AS that has developed enterprise sensors for more than 20 years.
- SINTEF Digital that has a wide experience in biomedical technology, optical measurements and data analysis.
- Oslo University Hospital has world-leading clinical expertise on hypertension and blood pressure measurements.
- Sandefjord Helsepark that is an association of general practitioners and specialists that regularly experience the need for improved ABPM for their patients.
Aidee's R&D personnel and SINTEF has expertise in developing sensor systems and complementary software solutions while the clinical partners will provide end-user involvement and perform clinical studies.
References
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