Wearable devices are a promising alternative to invasive physiological measurements to provide important clinical information relevant to cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, an ongoing challenge with wearables is how to consolidate complex physiological signals into sensitive, clinically meaningful risk performance metrics.
Shariful’s research is to address this gap, by developing a novel, intelligent wearable system, ‘Wear-Heart’, for early detection of CVDs (hypertension, arrhythmias/atrial fibrillation, heart failure) and provide personalised on-line care advice to improve health outcomes.
Wear-Heart is the world’s first program to capture physiological data using wearables, sensors and medical devices, integrating data from primary healthcare clinics and applying machine learning algorithms. The program provides advance warning for early detection of CVDs, facilitating early interventions and preventing deterioration. Wear-Heart will determine pathophysiology of high BP, understand individual BP variations, connect people with high BP with their clinicians, and provide opportunities for real-time individualised support to enhance healthy lifestyle behaviours and optimise therapy.
This simple, relatively inexpensive approach, with novel technology, has the potential to transform BP management across Australia and internationally, reducing future premature deaths from CVD.