Chinese scientists develop skin-like system for blood pressure monitoring

BEIJING -- Chinese scientists have developed a skin-like integrated optoelectronic system that can be used as a wearable device for blood pressure monitoring.

Developed by researchers from Tsinghua University, the system looks like a thin and soft bandaid, which can be attached to human skin to achieve dynamic monitoring of blood pressure and blood oxygen and can wirelessly transmit the data to smart terminals in real-time.

Non-invasive continuous blood pressure monitoring is key to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. However, the most commonly used blood pressure cuff is inconvenient and difficult to realize continuous blood pressure monitoring.

Researchers developed a strategy for blood pressure monitoring based on optical principles and used biocompatible materials to fabricate a skin-like optoelectronic system that can be conformally attached to human skin. By measuring the absorption of light with different wavelengths by the blood, the volume and velocity of blood can be measured to calculate blood pressure and blood oxygen.

The system can be attached to the wrist, and the measured data can be transmitted to terminals such as smartphones in real-time through an integrated Bluetooth chip. The system can overcome noise interference caused by motion and can be used while moving.

Clinical trials showed that the system can measure blood pressure with an absolute error of less than 10 mmHg, which can meet the standard of medical monitoring.

The system benefits from the innovation of theoretical model and device design and presents a novel strategy for achieving long-term dynamic monitoring of blood pressure and blood oxygen, according to the team.

The research was published in the journal National Science Review.