Improving Blood Pressure with Wearables

For patients with high blood pressure, sweeping doctor-recommended lifestyle changes can be overwhelming. A study at UC San Diego found that data collected from wearables can help determine contributing factors for a patient’s high blood pressure and give her more targeted lifestyle recommendations to manage it.

“What if we could pinpoint the one health behavior that most impacts an individual’s blood pressure, and have them focus on that one goal, instead?” said Sujit Dey, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSD and lead researcher for the study.

Researchers collected sleep, exercise, and blood pressure data from participants using wearables. They then used an algorithm to predict participants’ blood pressures for the following day and determine which behaviors were most likely to affect the outcome. Participants successfully lowered their blood pressure by changing the targeted behavior, such as by increasing physical activity or going to sleep earlier.

Read more in the UC San Diego News Center.