Blood pressure is one of the most important vital values that can be measured. High blood pressure leads to conditions that are among the top 10 diseases with the most years of life lost. Think of strokes, heart attacks and heart failure. Currently, blood pressure is measured by a separate, single measurement. However, blood pressure fluctuates due to exercise, stress or the natural circadian day/night rhythm. A snapshot therefore provides a very poor representation of the actual course of a patient’s blood pressure.
With more than 1.4 million people in the Netherlands with hypertension, €6.5 billion in blood pressure-related medical costs annually, and 17.9 million deaths worldwide annually that can be related to cardiovascular disorders, there is great demand for a technology that can perform a continuous blood pressure measurement cheaply and easily. When a continuous measurement is possible, insight is obtained into the blood pressure pattern, which provides much more insight than the blood pressure at one time of the day. A disturbance of the blood pressure pattern can be used as an indicator of the development of various diseases and disorders, can be used to act preventively and to improve the treatment of disorders.
During this project, the applicants will work together to develop a blood pressure patch, the BPatch, which will enable continuous blood pressure measurement. By using the intended BPatch, it will be possible to monitor blood pressure in a non-invasive way for a longer period of time (up to 14 days continuously).
This ensures the availability of very valuable information about the patient’s well-being, enabling faster and better care to be provided. The project therefore has a significant impact on the health transition. Medication can be set at a personal level and preventive measures can be taken earlier (eg adjusting lifestyle). Because there is insight into the blood pressure pattern and can be measured continuously, the effect of the treatment can then be made transparent and adjusted at an individual level.
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