Soon, sensor beds that check heart health

London: Electronics giant Philips is all set to create a sensor bed that keeps a close watch on the health of heart failure patients. One of the aims of the ‘My Heart’ project – funded by the EU – is to help spot heart problems several days before they become life threatening, say reports.

The new initiative results from health experts’ belief that the need for emergency hospitalisation may be reduced if beds and clothing are equipped with such devices that monitor heart patients’ condition.

Philips will install an electronic weight scale and blood pressure monitor in the new bed. The devices to be packed in the bed will also include sensors that measure heart rate, breathing rate, and body movements while sleeping.

The new bed has sensors to measure heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, etc; data collected can be transferred via a telephone or broadband connection

Besides, the patient could wear a vest with woven-in electrodes that provide a full electro-cardiogram reading.

The information gathered through such devices would be analysed on a PDA, and the results sent via a telephone line or broadband connection to doctors.

People involved in the project say that the device could even provide clues to interrupted sleep by measuring sleep phase patterns.

However, Dr Nick Robinson, a member of UK’s Royal Society of Medicine’s Telehealth forum, believes that it will be difficult for doctors to accurately interpret the information gained through such technologies.

“We are used to making decisions based on taking a blood pressure reading on an occasional basis – and all the evidence we have for intervening is based on this,” he said.

“The real challenge for this technology is not taking the measurements, but working out what to do with it, so that we are not constantly getting false alarms,” he added.

Information regarding further tests or commercial marketing of the four-year project was not released.