[zarang]

Developing a mobile phone app that can determine your blood pressure simply by placing your your fingertip on the phone's camera.

Why is it cool? Currently 65 million Americans have high blood pressure, more than 380,000 die each year primarily due to high blood pressure, and it costs over 45 billion dollars in direct medical costs. Of even greater concern is that over 45% of those with hypertension do not have it under control. [1,2]

This app will provide instant and ubiquitous information about their blood pressure to everyday citizens without the need for (as many) visits to the doctor, or the purchasing of expensive medical equipment. It will empower the people to take greater control of their own health, and offers the potential to greatly reduce the burden on an already-overstretched healthcare system.

As it is based purely on the phone's video camera, it will be the first time people can use their mobile phone to measure their blood pressure in the convenience of their own home, at a time that suits them, without the need for connecting your phone to additional proprietary specialist hardware.

[1] http://www.cdc.gov/bloodpressure/facts.htm

[2] https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-public/@wcm/@sop/@smd...