The bulky blood pressure cuff that inflates and squeezes the bicep to within an inch of combustion is something many patients are familiar with, but it may be time to say good-bye to such discomforts. Scientists at Boston University, Boston Medical Center and Meta have come up with a plan to do just that, using a high-speed speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS).

By observing how tiny blood vessels make light (shone on the wrist and finger) dance in speckle patterns and amalgamating this information with the usual pulse sensor technology (photoplethysmography or PPG), they collect data about the flexibility and resistance of blood vessels — the two big players in blood pressure.

The results of the combined information are loaded into a personalized AI model, and in testing, blood pressure errors were reduced by more than 30 percent compared to the PPG on its own. The readings also stayed accurate weeks later — a major win for consistent monitoring.

This means we may soon have a more comfortable, continuous and precise means of keeping tabs on our heart health.

The paper, published in Biomedical Optics Express, notes that although this is a step forward, larger studies are needed before this enters mainstream use.

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