Selfies could become an easy way to monitor your blood pressure, according to new research published in an American Heart Association journal.
The process uses ‘transdermal optical imaging’ to detect blood flow changes in the face, via sensors in a smartphone, which are then used to estimate blood pressure. In tests, individuals were videoed in a ‘well-controlled environment with fixed lighting’ and the results equated to an accuracy of 95% for systolic blood pressure; and diastolic blood pressure with pulse pressure at nearly 96% accuracy. Replicating these results in people’s houses would be a game changing breakthrough.
“If future studies could confirm this exciting result in hypertensive patients and with video camera measurements made during daily life, then obtaining blood pressure information with a click of a camera may become reality,” said Ramakrishna Mukkamala, Ph.D., Circulation Imaging editorial author and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University in East Lansing.
The research was published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging, an American Heart Association journal.
