Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Rithmi (RITHMI: THE SMART MONITOR THAT TAKES CARE OF YOUR HEART)
Période du rapport: 2018-10-01 au 2019-03-31
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death worldwide, causing more than 17.3 million deaths worldwide and being the cause behind 31.5% of all deaths and 45% of all deaths for non-contagious diseases. There are 570 million people over the world with some kind of heart disease, from which 148 million suffer arrhythmias. Arrhythmias, specifically Atrial Fibrillation (AF), are the first cause of stroke, the leading cause of death in women and second in men, and the cause of many cases of disability and dependence. Detecting arrhythmias in time is crucial for preventing its effects, but until now it is a very difficult and expensive process. To prevent this, we have developed a non-invasive and comfortable smartband device capable of detecting arrhythmias in real-time 24/7 combining both photoplethysmography (PPG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors. And since what we want is to help the more people, beyond our own wearable device, Rithmi is also a cloud platform (AFib) where other wearable manufacturers can connect and use our algorithms under license to detect Atrial Fibrillation.
From the very beginning of the project, we have developed a high accuracy PPG and ECG based algorithm, which has been tested on 200 patients with our first smart band prototype. The results of this testing are highly favourable: our algorithm has an accuracy of 97.7%. The good results have led as to the current stage: we are developing the last version of the device, where we finally include a screen and a more powerful microprocessor to improve user experience, after interviewing patients with this pathology and doctors. The results of the test will be published in a medical report carried out by our main investigator Dr. Joaquín Oscà. The good functioning of our algorithm has led Garmin to want to integrate it in some of its devices, so we are in the testing phase with them.
Current devices are not able to monitor patients 24/7 and most of them don’t know about the arrhythmia presence until it is already too late. Since the non-controlled appearance of an AF multiplies by 5 the risk of a stroke, our innovation idea relies on providing a friendly technological solution that can monitor patients 24/7 in their daily activities. It is estimated that more than 21% of the population over 60 years of age have a high risk of suffering a stroke in the next 10 years, according to data from the PREVICTUS study. The forecasts say that in the year 2050 the population over 65 will represent 46% of the total, almost half could suffer a stroke. Each new case of stroke, only in Spain, cost €27.000 in the first year, which means that each year, treating new cases of stroke costs €3.500.000. Bearing this in mind, Rithmi strategy will focus in the current test in Spain, following the main western EU countries.