The researchers, developing the device, have received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in November
A team of researchers from Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Mumbai, backed by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) are developing a low-cost automated early detection sensor of preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication caused by high blood pressure that can cause organ damage and premature birth.
The researchers received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the BMGF in November. The programme is part of a family of initiatives by the foundation fostering innovation to solve key global and health development problems.
The research team led by Craig Goergen, said, “We hope this will allow us to predict and prevent preeclampsia and reduce the number of children born prematurely each year. This could also reduce the long-term health complications for mothers.”
According to World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 10 per cent of all maternal deaths in Africa and Asia are associated with hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and 25 per cent of all maternal deaths in Latin America. Most of those deaths are avoidable.
“The Gates Foundation is looking for something that’s going to have an impact in the immediate future in low- and middle-income countries,” Goergen said. “They are interested because the treatment and management of preeclampsia in sub-Saharan Africa, India, China and other developing countries is typically very poor.”
The team is working to combine available existing technologies such as smartphones, a conventional inflatable blood pressure cuff, and a wireless accelerometer (which measures body position) to build an innovative prototype that will detect preeclampsia before it develops.
As per the researchers, the device uses a simple but underused tool called the supine pressor test that can identify the risk for preeclampsia. The test assesses blood flow through the kidney, and 90 pe rcent of women with a positive test eventually develop preeclampsia. The early detection enables more effective prevention strategies.
“This is a device that women are going to be able to use at home with a minimal amount of training,” Goergen said.
The device will measure whether a woman’s blood pressure increases when she changes position from lying on her left side to lying on her back. If the diastolic pressure increases enough, it is a warning sign that a woman is susceptible to preeclampsia, he added. The researchers have obtained a provisional patent with the help of the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization.
Women will send the results to a doctor’s office, a healthcare system or a centralised network for the results to be read and where they could receive counselling so they can start management and treatment options as early as possible.
While the BMGF goal is to help women in developing countries, Goergen said the device the Purdue researchers are working on also could help women in inner cities and rural areas of the US and other developed countries. They plan on initially testing the device on low- and middle-income women in and around Indianapolis once the researchers receive the necessary institutional approval.
“It will be a great way to make sure that these patients are not going down a road that is going to lead to problems for both them and their baby,” Goergen said.
The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology issued a report last year estimating the costs to the US healthcare system for preeclampsia at $2.18 billion for the first 12 months after birth — $1.03 billion for mothers, and $1.15 billion for babies.
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