Remote health monitoring using mobile phones and Web services

• Published in: Telemedicine journal and e-health Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 603
• Main Authors: Agarwal, Sparsh, Lau, Chiew Tong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.06.2010
• Subjects: Attitude of Health Personnel; Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring; Cardiology - organization & administration; Cell Phone - utilization; Chronic Disease; Computer Systems; Diabetes Mellitus - diagnosis; Diabetes Mellitus - therapy; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - therapy; India; Internet - instrumentation; Internet - organization & administration; Monitoring, Ambulatory - instrumentation; Monitoring, Ambulatory - methods; Remote Consultation - instrumentation; Remote Consultation - organization & administration; Singapore; Software; Surveys and Questionnaires; Systems Integration; User-Computer Interface
• ISSN: 1556-3669
• DOI: 10.1089/tmj.2009.0165

Diabetes and hypertension have become very common perhaps because of increasingly busy lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits, and a highly competitive workplace. The rapid advancement of mobile communication technologies offers innumerable opportunities for the development of software and hardware applications for remote monitoring of such chronic diseases. This study describes a remote health-monitoring service that provides an end-to-end solution, that is, (1) it collects blood pressure readings from the patient through a mobile phone; (2) it provides these data to doctors through a Web interface; and (3) it enables doctors to manage the chronic condition by providing feedback to the patients remotely. This article also aims at understanding the requirements and expectations of doctors and hospitals from such a remote health-monitoring service.