Low cost, non-invasive, and continuous vital signs monitoring device for pregnant women in low resource settings (Lvital device)

Around 800 women die each day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth in the world. Vital Signs monitoring (such as blood pressure, pulse rate, and temperature) are among fundamental parameters of ensuring the health and safety of women and newborns during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. Approximately, 10% of women experience hypertension (greater than140/90) during pregnancy. High blood pressure during pregnancy can cause extra stress on the heart and kidneys and can increase the risk of heart disease. Therefore, early recognition of abnormal vital signs, which are induced due to pregnancy can allow for timely identification of clinical deterioration. Currently used technologies are expensive and complex design with implementation challenges in low-resource settings where maternal morbidity and mortality is higher. Thus, considering the above need, here a hardware device has been designed and developed, which is a low cost, and portable for pregnant women’s vital signs (with cuff-less blood pressure, heart rate, and body temperature) monitoring device. The developed device would have a remarkable benefit of monitoring the maternal vital signs especially for those in low resource settings, where there is a high paucity of vital signs monitoring devices.