Passive longitudinal weight and cardiopulmonary monitoring in the home bed

Home health monitoring has the potential to improve outpatient management of chronic cardiopulmonary diseases such as heart failure. However, it is often limited by the need for adherence to self-measurement, charging and self-application of wearables, or usage of apps. Here, we describe a non-contact, adherence-independent sensor, that when placed beneath the legs of a patient’s home bed, longitudinally monitors total body weight, detailed respiratory signals, and ballistocardiograms for months, without requiring any active patient participation. Accompanying algorithms separate weight and respiratory signals when the bed is shared by a partner or a pet. Validation studies demonstrate quantitative equivalence to commercial sensors during overnight sleep studies. The feasibility of detecting obstructive and central apneas, cardiopulmonary coupling, and the hemodynamic consequences of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia is also established. Real-world durability is demonstrated by 3 months of in-home monitoring in an example patient with heart failure and ischemic cardiomyopathy as he recovers from coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. BedScales is the first sensor to measure adherence-independent total body weight as well as longitudinal cardiopulmonary physiology. As such, it has the potential to create a multidimensional picture of chronic disease, learn signatures of impending hospitalization, and enable optimization of care in the home.

Home health monitoring during the COVID pandemic: Results from a feasibility study in Alberta primary care

The expansive geography of Central Alberta presents many barriers to optimal care, including limited resources and access issues. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care networks (PCNs) within Central Alberta partnered with a technology provider to rapidly implement home health monitoring (HHM) for patients with chronic diseases. In the 37 patients evaluated in phase 1 (90 days), diabetes was most common (73%), followed by hypertension (38%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (27%), and heart failure (11%). Overall, patients were comfortable using the HHM technology, and >60% reported improved quality of life after follow-up. Patients also made fewer visits to their family physician/emergency department compared with the pre-enrolment period. In January 2021, the HHM initiative was expanded to a larger patient cohort (phase 2; n = 500). Interim results for 90 patients from eight PCNs up to the end of May 2021 show similar findings to phase 1.

Yoga Pose Detection and Correction System

Activity recognition is useful in many domains. These include biometrics, video -surveillance, human-computer interaction, assisted living, sports arbitration, in-home health monitoring, etc. The health status of an individual can be evaluated and predicted by monitoring and recognizing their activities. Yoga is one such domain that can be used to bring harmony to both body and mind with the help of asana, meditation, and various other breathing techniques. Nowadays in a fast-paced lifestyle, people do not have time to go to yoga classes. Hence, they prefer practicing yoga at home. However, there is a need for a tutor to assess their yoga poses. Hence, the system is presented where the user needs to do the yoga pose which is recognized in real-time video. Then, PoseNet is used to generate key points for the body parts. The identified pose is then compared with the target pose. Based on the comparison status generated by the function, verbal instructions are provided for the user to correct the yoga pose.

Basic technology and proper usage of home health monitoring devices

Home health monitoring devices are consumer-grade devices that help to monitor the health of individuals at home. These devices are usually low-cost and easily procurable, and they can be operated by patients or their caretakers with minimal training. However, improper usage of these devices may provide erroneous results, which can lead to an unnecessary hospital visit or teleconsultation. In this article, we discuss the basic technology and proper usage of some of these devices, namely automatic blood pressure monitors, blood glucose monitors, body fat monitors, pulse oximeters, electrocardiographs, digital thermometers, and infrared thermometers. This brief document intends to help primary health care professionals and their patients use these devices.