Smart Garment Technology for Healthcare

Heart disease and other cardiovascular health problems now globally claims 17.5 million lives or around 30% of global deaths. Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death globally and is projected to remain the leading cause of death. If appropriate action is not taken, by 2015, an estimated 20 million people will die from cardiovascular disease every year, mainly from heart attacks and strokes (WHO, 2005).  In the EU, heart disease leads to more than 40% of all deaths (European Public Health Alliance).

Management of heart disease and the provision of healthcare are rapidly becoming major features of, and costs to, public healthcare in developed countries.

SmartLife® Technology provides full clinical ECG data in real time, without the need for electrodes, gel interfaces, or hospital beds. No other technology currently offers this capability. SmartLife® Technology will revolutionise the monitoring and treatment of heart patients, leading to improved intervention for patients, cost savings, and efficiency gains.

 

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in America, claiming the lives of 122,283 Americans in 2003 (National Center for Health Statistics, Report of Final Mortality Statistics, 2003 ).

In 2004, 11.4 million U.S. adults (aged 18 and over) were estimated to have COPD. However, close to 24 million U.S. adults have evidence of impaired lung function, indicating an under diagnosis of COPD ( National Center for Health Statistics. Raw Data from the National Health Interview Survey, U.S., 2003 ).

In 2004, the cost of COPD to the American nation was approximately $37.2 billion, including $20.9 billion in direct health care expenditures, $7.4 billion in indirect morbidity costs and $8.9 billion in indirect mortality costs (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, Morbidity and Mortality Chartbook, 2003 ).

 

SmartLife® Technology can:

  • continuously monitor breathing patterns of COPD patients under medication to see the effects of it so that doctors can promptly make adjustments to the treatment (if necessary) saving patients from being under the wrong (often costly) medication,
  • reduce the need for continual attendance at medication and clinical facilities thus reducing the carbon (pollution) footprint in addition to reducing the clinician and their health colleagues time requirements
  • following a condition diagnosis, deterioration can be gauged and predicted if not directly influenced by the increased and dynamic knowledge monitoring offers.