Development of a blood pressure monitoring system based on smart-camera video recording

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PROJECT SUMMARY Hypertension causes 7.5 M deaths worldwide with no warning signs or symptoms and occurs in more than two thirds of individuals over the age of 65. Hypertension represents a major risk factor for coronary heart problems including ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, kidneys failure, and visual impairment. The most impactful action against hypertension is represented by frequent blood pressure (BP) measurements, which assure early intervention and its successful management. BP monitoring occurs mainly at the Health Care Provider’s (HCP) office through cuff-based devices (e.g. sphygmomanometer) that can only accurately be operated by trained personnel. Moreover, clinical BP measurement has the potential to cause Masked and White Coat Hypertension, two well-known phenomena that prevent correct BP assessment and assignment of a proper therapeutic plan in nearly 40% of the patients. Other alternatives are represented by ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) and home blood pressure measurement (HBPM) devices which have shown limitations due to costs, practicality, and inaccuracy. Ovid BP proposes an innovative technology to allow comprehensive BP detection and management via patented software that leverages today’s advanced smartphone camera technology to capture the biomarkers required to determine a patients’ BP. The solution is empowered by an algorithm that estimates BP from the heart’s QRS signal, which is specifically captured through analysis of the patients’ Vertical Head Movement (VHM). Additionally, the rate of facial blood flow is observed through the well-understood practice of video plethysmography (vPPG). With this data the system is capable of producing the Instantaneous Hearth Rate Period (THRi) and Instantaneous Pulse Transit Time (PTTi), which are analyzed by a cloud-based algorithm yielding systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as heart rate in a matter of moments. Ovid’s technology has been tested in-vivo against clinical-grade HBPM devices and has exhibited a strong correlation to the reference measurements obtained by the modern standard. In this Phase I application, Ovid BP will assess the feasibility of the proposed approach to correctly detect BP when confronted with variables that might affect vPPG and QRS estimation. Specific activities will include a study on selected human subjects to validate the technology against a mercury sphygmomanometer and to investigate the role of age, sex, skin tone, and BP baseline as the cause of errors. Data collected will be used to perform algorithm refinements required to solve any issues associated with these variables. The conclusion of the proposed Phase I study will establish the feasibility of Ovid BP’s video-based approach to measuring BP. During Phase II, Ovid will conduct a larger study to identify and solve other key issues affecting the readings, including potential dermatological conditions that may impede the accurate assessment of both VHM and PPG.