The bracelet can monitor blood pressure and alert you if your heart rate is high.
The Aktiia home blood pressure monitoring kit comes with a cuff, bracelet and partner app, which can constantly track blood pressure without a bulky device.
This Switzerland-based company began monitoring blood pressure with optical sensors fifteen years ago and is ready to make it available to the public in spring 2021.
The system uses signal processing to compare real blood pressure levels to a baseline.
Mike Kisch, Aktiia CEO, told MailOnline that having constant blood pressure measurements in all settings was a ‘game changer’ for doctors and patients.
This allows physicians to assess whether medications are working and for patients to evaluate how lifestyle changes can improve blood pressure.
The kit is £199 from the Aktiia website, and is medically certified for use in seven countries in Europe, including the UK.
The kit is £199 from the Aktiia website, and is medically certified for use in seven countries in Europe, including the UK
The Aktiia Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Kit comes with a cuff bracelet and a companion app. This can track your blood pressure continuously without a bulky device
Aktiia says its goal is to ‘improve cardiovascular health by providing patients and physicians with a deeper understanding of their blood pressure patterns.’
It is a discrete bracelet worn around the wrist that monitors blood pressure.
This device is intended to assist in hypertension diagnosis and treatment. Hypertension is the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting approximately 1.28 billion people.
“Our viewpoint is that we need to accurately measure the blood pressure of an individual in order to make sure it’s accurate,” said Mr Kisch.
This is done using actual data, rather than AI or machine-learning to guess blood pressure.
The device comes with an upper-arm cuff similar to a blood pressure monitor and a bracelet when you get it.
This cuff can be used to measure your baseline blood pressure. The system then uses the optical sensor to monitor blood pressure.
“This space is highly controlled and, unlike many things that a consumer wearable may measure, it is crucial for the treatment of some of the most common chronic diseases in the world.
This data can be used by patients to assess their blood pressure and determine if they have reached their targets.
“Equally important, but perhaps more, is the possibility that a physician might prescribe medication based upon these values.
“That is the point where it differs from a consumer-wearable. While a doctor wouldn’t use Apple Watch data as a base for their treatment plans, they may need to run more detailed tests if they suspect there are other problems.
European doctors are using the product for their patients. It allows them to measure blood pressure continuously without any ‘whitecoat effect’. This is when blood pressure can spike in the presence of a doctor.
You will forget about the device after wearing it for at least a month.
Aktiia claims that their goal is “improve cardiovascular health, providing patients and doctors with a deeper understanding about their blood pressure patterns.”
These data are real and not machine-learning or AI to determine blood pressure.
Hypertension is something I suffer from. I am currently on medication for it. However, there are lifestyle changes that I can make to help my condition improve.
I was able to tie different food and activities to my blood pressure by using the device.
It has been approved by the UK and Europe to market the product and it is working closely with the Food and Drug Administration in the USA.
The device is available across seven countries and has been used by tens to thousands of people in the last year, capturing over 20,000,000 blood pressure readings.
‘We are targeting individuals themselves,’ explained Mr Kisch, adding they are also targeting researchers, carrying out hypertension studies.
“Depending on who you are, this product may be purchased online or in-store. The same goes for the insurance provider, which may want you to use the product more often.
“They are motivated to offer you the product because they believe it will help in your pursuit.
A healthcare system can help doctors provide greater data on their patients. Only one percent of hypertension patients are given an ambulatory bulky blood pressure monitor.
They are not used in a consistent manner. They are not used in a consistent manner by doctors.
He said, “What if it were a bad day? What if they were under stress?”
This device makes it so that the monitoring of blood pressure is ‘pushed to the background’, meaning users do not have to even think about it.
The company is updating the product to make it more clinically-focused, and creating physician friendly reports for blood pressure data.
“As the product is used on a larger scale for clinical applications, it must have a strong visible application and dashboard. The product team has begun building that dashboard and will release the dashboard in the first quarter of 2012.”
This discreet monitor can be worn on a wrist as a discrete bracelet. It tracks your blood pressure automatically 24/7, even while you are asleep.
Mike Kisch (CEO of Aktiia) told MailOnline that constant blood pressure measurement in every setting was a game changer’ both for patients and doctors.
Doctors will have the ability to see remotely how patients are progressing and determine what time they should take their medication.
Right now, once they have done the initial diagnosis and prescribed medication, they don’t receive a lot more data. Therefore, it is unlikely the first time they will succeed. So they now get continued data to assess if treatment needs to be modified.
‘That is a game changer for the physician,’ explains Mr Kisch.
This device gathers data and feeds it into cohort studies on a large scale. There are nine of them currently operating or in the process of running around the globe.
The other is the impact of these products on patient engagement and doctor decision-making.
The bracelet can monitor blood pressure and alert you if you’re standing, sitting, lying down, fast asleep, or both.
An Australian study on the connection between blood pressure and salt intake is being conducted. It was conducted in Switzerland.
In the last one year, there were 200 requests for research by the company. This is partly due to the fact that blood pressure is not widely and easily measured.
Mr Kisch said he expects devices like the Apple Watch and Fitbit will have blood pressure monitoring in the coming years, but it would be ‘consumer grade’.
“I would not be surprised to see them do a spot check where you must be in a relaxed, set, and comfortable position. But that’s no different from what we do right now.
“We are able to measure your standing, sitting and lying down. We also can determine if your arm is above your head.
“The ability to see the difference between night and day can be a huge help in prioritising patients according to their risk profile. Around 50% of high blood pressure sufferers have an abnormal circadian variation.
This is the point at which your nighttime blood pressure does not drop below your daily average. It could raise your chances of suffering a heart attack or stroke.
“If doctors see that marker on a patient they might treat them differently than without that data,” including when they took their medication.
‘They can shift the timing of medication to where it has an optimal impact on blood pressure control,’ explained Mr Kisch.
The company is currently in the process of importing the data from their bracelet into Apple Health to enable wider comparisons and to include other readings like step count or food intake.
The device allows users to monitor blood pressure without having to remember it.
“For the consumer part of this experience, time within range is one of my favorite features. An evolution will show you whether or not your percentage of good and bad.
“We are able to identify the drivers that keep you from the healthy range and make recommendations on how we can help you stay in it.”
It only allows for you to record the medicine you are taking, your dosage, when and how you sleep. But they intend to add additional annotations, such as about diet.
“Ultimately, if you can give me a range, and what were the differences and what can I do to make them better, it is powerful guidance to provide simple direction to others.
A doctor might say eat less, sleep better and take medication – giving very broad instructions to improve blood pressure, but Mr Kisch said with data they can provide a handful of very simple solutions, and real time feedback.