The smartphone app MoveSense, developed by engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, uses analyses of a cardiopulmonary patient's walk to predict oxygen saturation levels. The health-tracking app can be used on a standard smartphone, and oxygen saturation is measured without the use of a pulse oximeter.

Doctors often use a six-minute walk test for patients with heart and lung disease, such as congestive heart failure (CHF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma. The test provides a patient’s functional capacity and response to therapy for a wide range of chronic cardiopulmonary conditions.

The Illinois team used MoveSense, in conjunction with their existing gait model, to administer six-minute walk tests to 20 patients with cardiopulmonary disease.

The researchers discovered oxygen saturation readings clustered patients into three pulmonary function categories: one with consistently high saturation, one with consistently low saturation, and a third where saturation varied and patients were clinically unstable.

In addition, the team discovered that analysis of the saturation, combined with the gait data, could predict saturation category with 100 percent accuracy. The model uses a voting scheme to account for patients walking faster and slower, as their hearts and lungs struggle to keep up with demand.

Source