Sky Labs, a digital health startup from South Korea, makes a blood pressure monitor as a smartring, it is called CART BP. This ring measures blood pressure on the go with a special PPG sensor. The company’s CEO and founder Jack Lee, former R&D Samsung, says the company has just finished comparing the ring’s readings with all major blood pressure measurement methods. Their press release states that the ring is the first device in the world to give accurate readings across all key methods.
Three Main Blood Pressure Measurement Methods
Clinics often use the auscultatory method, which involves a cuff-based monitor and stethoscope, to measure blood pressure. Another method is invasive blood pressure measurement. Here a needle or catheter goes into an artery to read the pressure inside. The third method is Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM). It tracks blood pressure over 24 hours using a cuff and monitor worn on the body.
Smart Ring Proves Accuracy
Sky Labs tested the CART BP ring against these three methods. The tests took place at Seoul National University Hospital. The 24-hour ABPM study was the first clinical research to follow the European Society of Hypertension’s new guidelines for validating cuffless devices. The preliminary result from the ‘awake/asleep test,’ was described as promising in the research study. It is the toughest test to validate among the five tests by ESH. The researchers published the findings in the Korean Circulation Journal. Sky Labs also confirmed the ring’s accuracy in studies with invasive arterial blood pressure measurement and standard stethoscopy. These results appeared in Nature Scientific Reports and the Journal of Korean Medical Science.
How CART BP Measures Blood Pressure
The CART BP ring is unique because it can measure blood pressure for 24 hours, even during sleep. It’s easy to wear and doesn’t interfere with daily activities. Users can check their blood pressure on a smartphone, making it possible to monitor their health anytime, anywhere.The ring can also detect types of hypertension that are hard to measure in hospitals, like white coat, masked, morning, and nocturnal hypertension. This could help doctors make more accurate diagnoses.
Current State of Regulatory Approval
The CART BP ring is not yet approved in Europe. Sky Labs aims to get FDA approval and CE-MDR marking by 2024. However, the South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has approved the ring for blood pressure monitoring in South Korea. The first version of the CART ring, approved by the MFDS in 2020, tracked atrial fibrillation and was later updated to measure blood oxygen saturation.
