Dynocardia – developer of ViTrack, the first-of-its-kind non-invasive, wearable blood pressure (BP) and heart monitor – and NYC Health + Hospitals (the nation’s largest safety net health system), are partnering on a study of hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (HDP). This study will include at least 150 women who are pregnant or have recently given birth.
The perinatal study addresses a long-standing unmet need for accurate and continuous BP for reliable diagnosis of HDP and prediction and early detection of preeclampsia. And the research is being funded by a $2.3 million grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
HDP (a constellation of high BP disorders that may occur during pregnancy) affects both the mother and the child and is a leading cause of pregnancy-related complications and death globally. While risks posed by HDP have doubled over the past decade in the United States, the effects on the maternal population are not evenly distributed. And African American women are at 5 times the risk from eclampsia and preeclampsia, which are severe forms of HDP that can impair the liver and kidneys, trigger strokes, and result in death. Over the last 3 years, this risk was exacerbated by the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease) pandemic, as evidenced by the increased incidence and severity of preeclampsia and an associated increase in preterm births and stillbirths.
Automatic arm-cuff devices (currently the standard of care for monitoring BP) have two significant limitations: inaccuracy and the lack of continuous measurement capability. So incorrect diagnoses of hypertension occur at a staggering rate of 30%. Moreover, pregnant women are more vulnerable to these errors due to hemodynamic and vascular changes that occur during pregnancy.
ViTrack – which is a one-of-a-kind blood pressure monitoring device that stands out from all other existing devices – uses a unique combination of computer vision and artificial intelligence to accurately measure both systolic and diastolic blood pressures on a beat-to-beat basis without the need for external calibration. And ViTrack could perform these measurements regardless of patient movement or wrist position relative to the heart, which eliminates the impact of hydrostatic pressure changes.
The NHLBI provided funding for a study that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of ViTrack in diagnosing HDP accurately and quickly. And the study intends to determine if ViTrack can provide precise measurements of 24-hour BP profiles for prediction purposes. This could lead to a meaningful improvement in patient care and management.
KEY QUOTES:
“Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy pose a growing threat to pregnant women, especially among Black patients and other patients of color who bear a disproportionate burden of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. After an extensive review, the NHLBI selected ViTrack to address this challenge. We’re excited about the potential to mitigate risk among the women who rely on us for their prenatal care.”
- Wendy Wilcox, MD, Chief Women’s Health Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals
“We’re thrilled to have a new tool that will enable us to identify subtle hemodynamic and vascular changes that can predict extreme fluctuations in blood pressure that may pose a threat to pregnant women.”
- Daryl Wieland, MD, Chair of OB-GYN at NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi|NCB
“ViTrack technology offers a new and unprecedented ability to continuously measure blood pressure and other critical heart and respiratory data, to enable predictive monitoring for early diagnosis and management of preeclampsia, and to prevent prenatal and postpartum complications.”
- Kecia Gaither, MD, Director of Perinatal Services and Maternal-Fetal Medicine at NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln
“We are truly grateful to the NHLBI for their continued support and this initial opportunity to partner with NYC H+H. We recognize the crucial role of accurate and continuous blood pressure monitoring in ensuring optimal care during pregnancy, especially among African American women. Given the known challenges of HDP, we believe that the implementation of ViTrack technology can significantly contribute to safeguarding and promoting the well-being of all expectant mothers.”
- Mohan Thanikachalam, MD, cardiac surgeon and CEO of Dynocardia
