Keep people healthy with our preventive healthcare data

Belun’s CEO, Dr. Lydia Leung, shared: “we hope to facilitate home sleep tests for identifying undiagnosed OSA. Research shows sleep health is critical for the overall immune system & treatment effectiveness of chronic diseases.” The company is expanding towards Preventive Healthcare from the original sleep health. The new direction is an insight found from collaborating with worldwide specialists. Since the launch of our 1st generation Belun Ring in 2018, it has been gradually adopted in other research on long-term diseases, including stroke, hypertension, insomnia, dementia, etc.

“Our new company direction results from the co-created insights after collaborating with worldwide researchers. Sleep takes up so much human time, but we know little about it. Our vision is to keep people healthy with our preventive healthcare data.”

Lydia Leung, CEO of Belun Technology

Worldwide obesity epidemic & the aging population

The sedentary lifestyle of people has led to an increasing prevalence of cardiovascular disease, poor sleep patterns, evaluated stress & obesity. OSA is common in patients with high BMI. Therefore, the worldwide obesity epidemic and the aging population demographic will likely contribute to the rising global prevalence of OSA. According to the World Economic Forum, 1 in 3 adults worldwide will suffer from 2 or more chronic conditions, leading to annual healthcare costs with an 80-300% increment². World Health Organization estimates a projected 10 million health workers shortfall by 2030³. Researchers predicted demand for healthcare workers will increase to 80 million by 2030, but supply will only reach 65 million, creating a healthcare worker deficit of 15 million. The anticipated shortage requires some immediate actions, or access to primary healthcare would be at risk. 

PPG-based wearable with medical accuracy

Belun’s CEO, Lydia Leung, shared: “Belun® Ring is a user and environmentally friendly PPG-based wearable with medical accuracy. Belun will offer a superb convenient option that may bring disruption to the sleep health market & encourage suspected patients to take action and kick start their treatment journey.” According to AASM⁴, “ubiquitous availability of PPG technology may allow for OSA diagnosis at scale.” There is “an increased interest in new technologies with therapeutic potential.”

Chronic Disease Management via AI Preventive Healthcare

Belun’s vision is to help people better manage their chronic diseases through artificial intelligence and big data analytics to alleviate medical expenditures due to the aging population. Our solution allows caregivers and patients to follow their treatment effectiveness, select personalized solutions, and enhance treatment compliance. Lydia further shared: “Long-term monitoring using medical-grade wearables can help people to identify abnormalities earlier to achieve preventive healthcare.” 

Worldwide partnership for the OSA markets

To cope with the massive market, Belun has teamed up with global partners to customize solutions for local communities in different countries. Some sleep lab groups in the United States will launch the Belun Sleep System to cater to both the OSA & insomnia markets. For the Indian market, Belun will collaborate with renowned neurologists & sleep specialists to tap into the millions of untreated OSA. The two markets have 104 million suspected OSA, according to the Lancet report¹.

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over a hundred organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040).

If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, please feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References

1.A.V, Benjafield et al, Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 2019; 2. Susanna Ng et al, PLOS One, 2015

2. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/healthcare-future-multiple-chronic-disease-ncd/

3. https://www.who.int/news/item/02-06-2022-global-strategy-on-human-resources-for-health–workforce-2030

4. https://aasm.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Tech-Committee-Report.pdf

The post FDA-cleared Belun Sleep System may speed up OSA diagnosis for 1 billion population  appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Belun joined the conference, “7th International Sleep Update 2023,” held in New Delhi, India, on Feb 12^th and 13th, organized by the Neurology Sleep Centre, New Delhi. The event composed of a 2-days conference on the topic “Innovative Approach to Sleep Disorders” cum exhibition.

Belun representatives showed the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring, and Sleep App for the first time in a public event in India. We had many insightful discussions with industry leaders.

Photo credit: Sumeet Sethi

Continued Reading :

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling in the form below:

DM us if you are a potential partner!

The post Belun in India appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

We had a fruitful discussion in the one hour sharing session.

To under more about how Belun’s applications would help clinical psychologists, see our previous story about CBT-I.

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, please feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References

1.         Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, Casey DE, Collins KJ, Dennison Himmelfarb C, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269–324.

2.         Sánchez-de-la-Torre M, Khalyfa A, Sánchez-de-la-Torre A, Martinez-Alonso M, Martinez-García MÁ, Barceló A, et al. Precision Medicine in Patients With Resistant Hypertension and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2015 Sep;66(9):1023–32.

The post Sharing with Clinical Psychologists of HK’s Public Hospital appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Safeguarding the lives of elderly in Hong Kong via this vital sign monitoring system

This vital sign monitoring system has been deployed to 60+ residential care homes in Hong Kong and received much positive feedback. The device offers better client protection and greatly reduces the pressure on care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

See how our users think about the system :

It offers huge support in monitoring vital sign changes with patients wearing the ring; the system automates health monitoring continuously. In addition, our caretakers would be alerted when abnormal changes in vital signs trigger the alarm, and caretakers would provide immediate support.

Wan Wah Care & Attention Home for the Elderly
Hong Kong Young Women’s Christian Association

To see the English subtitle, please turn on CC @ youtube setting

How to do remote vital sign monitoring ?

It is the first IoT system in the World composed of a medical-grade wearable Belun® Ring, a body temperature sensor Belun® COR and a communication hub, empowering caretakers to monitor the client’s condition anytime, anywhere, remotely. Its alert system facilitates early detection of deteriorating clients, provides timely medical support and offers better protection and quality care.

Transmissions of the vital sign – how it work ?

Physicians can also triage the clients effectively based on the vital sign trend. The device is applicable for real-time or remote monitoring for hospital accident & emergency wards, early discharged patients, elderly care homes, rehabilitation centres & clinics. It’s designed with easy deployment, automatically connecting to the mobile network (NBIoT / CAT M1 / 4G) without pairing for Bluetooth or WiFi. The proprietary algorithm monitors vital signs, predicts abnormalities, and avoids artifacts to minimize false alarms. It also allows different pre-set thresholds for the needs of other client groups, fulfilling the role of a scaleable remote patient monitoring tool. It also supports API for exporting data to Clinical Management System. See more details here.

Partners using Belun® remoVital System 

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep Platform, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, please feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References

1.         Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, Casey DE, Collins KJ, Dennison Himmelfarb C, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269–324.

2.         Sánchez-de-la-Torre M, Khalyfa A, Sánchez-de-la-Torre A, Martinez-Alonso M, Martinez-García MÁ, Barceló A, et al. Precision Medicine in Patients With Resistant Hypertension and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2015 Sep;66(9):1023–32.

The post Vital sign monitoring tool – customer review appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Patient screening for initiation of pharmacological treatment

In 2017, the American College of Cardiology / American Heart Association Task Force (1) published Clinical Practice Guidelines for patient evaluation in primary and secondary hypertension. Primary hypertension was defined by: i) a gradual increase in BP, with a slow rate of rise in BP, ii) lifestyle factors that favor higher BP (e.g., weight gain, high-sodium diet, decreased physical activity, excessive consumption of alcohol) and iii) family history of hypertension. On the other hand, secondary hypertension can be attributed to pheochromocytoma, OSA, chronic kidney disease due to post-renal urinary tract obstruction, hyperthyroidism, Cushing’s syndrome, medication and substance use. 

Basic laboratory tests for primary hypertension should include fasting blood glucose, complete blood count, lipid profile, serum creatinine with eGFR, serum sodium, potassium, calcium, thyroid-stimulating hormone, urinalysis, and electrocardiogram. 

Initiation of Pharmacological BP Treatment 

The use of BP-lowering medications is recommended for secondary prevention of recurrent Cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in patients with clinical CVD and an average SBP ≥ 130 mm Hg or an average DBP ≥ 80 mm Hg, and for primary prevention in adults with an estimated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk of ≥ 10% and average SBP ≥ 130 mm Hg or an average DBP ≥ 80 mm Hg.  

The use of BP-lowering medication is also recommended for primary prevention of CVD in adults with no history of CVD and with an estimated 10-year ASCVD risk < 10% and an SDP ≥ 140 mm Hg or a DBP ≥ 90 mm Hg. The pictorial workflow on the thresholds for treatment and follow-up is demonstrated in figure 1.  

Follow-up after initial BP evaluation

Guidelines for Follow-up after initial BP Evaluation are recommended as follows: 

1. For adults with normal BP, yearly evaluation is suggested.
2. Adults with elevated BP or stage 1 Hypertension with ASCVD risk < 10% should be managed by nonpharmacological treatment and review BP within 3-6 months.
3. Adults with stage 1 hypertension with ASCVD risk of ≥ 10% should be first managed by a combination of nonpharmacological and antihypertensive drug therapy and a repeat BP evaluation in 1 month.
4. Adults with stage 2 hypertension should be evaluated or referred to a primary care provider within 1 month for initial diagnosis, provide nonpharmacological and antihypertensive drug therapy, and repeat evaluation within 1 month.
5. For adults with high BP (e.g., SBP ≥ 180 mm Hg or DBP ≥ 110 mm Hg), evaluation should be immediate with antihypertensive drug treatment.

Appropriate follow-up and monitoring enable assessment of adherence and response to therapy; it also helps to identify adverse events by treatment and possible target organ damage and allows assessment of progress toward treatment goals. 

A systematic approach to out-of-office BP assessment is an important part of follow-up and monitoring of BP to assess response to treatment, elimination of white coat hypertension, and detection of masked hypertension or uncontrolled hypertension.

How precision treatment in OSA can improve coexisting Resistant Hypertension

Although improvement of sleep was documented to have a modest effect on BP reduction, however, precision medicine may shed new light on targeting tailored-made treatment strategies for selecting responders to OSA treatment. Torre et al. conducted an interesting study to identify 84 micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) arrays that could predict blood pressure responses to CPAP treatment (2). The study participants were recruited in a relatively large, randomized, controlled trial from 24 Spanish teaching hospitals of patients with Resistant Hypertension (RH) and OSA. After performing miRNA PCR array-based expression analyses, a subset of 3 differentially expressed miRNAs were found to be predictive in the reduction of blood pressure after CPAP treatment. The panel provided a discriminatory predictive model for identifying responders and non-responders to CPAP treatment effective in BP reduction. The identification of responders to CPAP with BP reduction helps clinicians to customize CPAP treatment options for responders and perhaps provides evidence to suggest other OSA treatment options to non-responders (e.g., Mandibular advancement device).

How Belun can facilitate preventive management in Hypertension

Belun® remoVital remote monitoring system is a real-time monitoring system composed of an FDA 510(k)-cleared Belun® Ring and a communication hub. The system measures vital signs, including blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, and body temperature. The installation is simple, user-friendly, and no pairing for Bluetooth or WiFi is required. The automatic connection with the cellular networks enables the system to run once it is turned on. It allows easy access to patients’ real-time measurements via the web portal. Besides, this real-time alarm customization alerts healthcare professionals if any measured vital sign exceeds the pre-set thresholds. RemoVital provides real-time monitoring of hypertensive patients with a high prevalence of underlying cardiovascular problems, which may require regular monitoring of vital signs.

Belun Sleep Platform (BSP) has the capability of monitoring and analyzing SpO2, heart rate variability (HRV), photoplethysmography (PPG) waveform, and accelerometer-derived actigraphy data. It can calculate an estimated apnea-hyponea index (bAHI). It can also differentiate wakefulness from sleep, perform sleep stage analysis and give REM and NREM sleep duration using its artificial intelligence platform. Furthermore, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities, including sympathetic and parasympathetic activities, throughout the monitoring period. Belun Sleep Platform provides objective sleep impairments data that can monitor the treatment responses of patients with coexisting OSA and hypertension. 

Going forward, Belun Platforms herein serves to provide a cost-effective, readily available, automated, no-skilled technician-needed solution to cardiologists, sleep physicians and patients with sleep-related disordered breathing population-wide. Besides, we empower physicians to have brief overview on their vital signs, sleep problems and cardiovascular health remotely in hypertensive patients with OSA　before thorough medical examinations. 

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep Platform, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References

1.         Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, Casey DE, Collins KJ, Dennison Himmelfarb C, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA Guideline for the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Hypertension. 2018 Jun;71(6):1269–324.

2.         Sánchez-de-la-Torre M, Khalyfa A, Sánchez-de-la-Torre A, Martinez-Alonso M, Martinez-García MÁ, Barceló A, et al. Precision Medicine in Patients With Resistant Hypertension and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 2015 Sep;66(9):1023–32.

The post The Management of Sleep in Improving Treatment Responses in Hypertension appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Belun Technology is proud to share that our healthcare solutions Belun^® remoVital (vital sign monitoring system), won Merit Award in the categories of “Inclusions & Community Services – Health & Wellbeing” & the “Technology – Internet of Things” at The Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards #APICTA2022 among 26 countries. 

Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards is an international awards program known as the Oscars of the Asian IT industry; it aims to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide.

The awards were hosted by #Pakistan for the first time. The prestigious event was attended by 16 economies of the Asia Pacific region, with 150+ foreign delegates, as well as eminent local businesses, entrepreneurs, and public sector professionals.

See the overall performance of the Hong Kong delegation in the APICTA [LINK] 

For more information about the event [LINK] 

About Belun® remoVital

Belun® remoVital is a vital sign monitoring system that empowers efficient monitoring & better care for the elderly & patients. Its alert system facilitates the early detection of deteriorating patients for timely medical support. The device reduces 90% of unnecessary interactions with patients in the isolation zone, thus minimizing the risk of the virus spreading and solving the problem of caregiver shortage during the pandemic. 

“Our team transformed the sleep health platform to an Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) platform to combat COVID-19 as one community. The IoMT platform will become part of Belun’s preventive healthcare platform to help reduce the medical burdens due to the aging population & prevalence of chronic diseases.” shared Lydia Leung, Co-founder, and CEO of Belun Technology.

About Belun Technology 

Besides Belun® remoVital, Belun has an outstanding award-winning track record, Belun® Ring winning the Hong Kong ICT Award 2018 – Award of the year, ICT Startup Grand Award and Smart Living Grand Award. The company also won 3 awards in the Asia Pacific ICT Award 2018, including the Inclusions and Community Services – Wellbeing category (Winner), Start-Up of the Year – Business and Community (Merit) and Technology of the Year – Big Data Analytics (Merit). 

Belun is a data technology company headquartered in Hong Kong with Preventive Healthcare Solutions powered by billions of health fingerprints and proprietary AI algorithms collected from global research in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore & Taiwan. Their medical-grade wearables & AI solutions for screening sleep health can evaluate treatment effectiveness for patients with chronic disease & predict health risks.

Video showcase: http://tiny.cc/Belun_remoVital

Continue Reading :

DM us if you are a potential partner!

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep health platform, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® RemoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling in the form below:

The post Vital sign monitoring tool won at the APICTA 2022 appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Belun Technology is named the Hong Kong ICT Awards 2022 – Smart People Grand Award

Belun Technology Company Limited (Belun), a healthcare data technology company for preventive healthcare, announced today that its Belun^® remoVital monitoring system (for remote vital sign monitoring) was named the Smart People Grand Award and Smart People (Smart Ageing) Gold Award of the Hong Kong ICT Awards (HKICTA) 2022, steered by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer & 8 other organizers, including the Hong Kong Council of Social Service hosting the Smart People category. It is a recognition of Belun’s effort in preventive healthcare, tackling the world issue of the aging population and safeguarding the lives of the elderly and people with disabilities during the pandemic outbreak in Hong Kong. 

“We are very honored to contribute to safeguarding the weakest link in our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our dream is to bring Hong Kong home-grown ICT solutions to serve the world’s aging population.” shared Raymond, co-founder of Belun Technology. 

The Smart People Award of the HKICTA 2022 is established to recognize innovative development of ICT products/solutions or ICT-enabled services that promote the rights of disadvantaged groups with their right to access ICT technology & address the challenges facing the aging society. “Belun^® remoVital monitoring system achieved all these objectives, protecting both the patients & caregivers, also help to reduce the pressure of the frontline during that critical pandemic.” shared by the judging panel. 

Belun® remoVital is a vital sign monitoring system that empowers efficient monitoring & better care for the elderly & patients. Its alert system facilitates the early detection of deteriorating patients for timely medical support. The device reduces 90% of unnecessary interactions with patients in the isolation zone, thus minimizing the risk of the virus spreading and solving the problem of caregiver shortage during the pandemic. 

“Our team transformed the sleep health platform to an Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) platform to combat COVID-19 as one community. The IoMT platform will become part of Belun’s preventive healthcare platform to help reduce the medical burdens due to the aging population & prevalence of chronic diseases.” Lydia Leung, Co-founder, and CEO of Belun Technology.

About Belun Technology 

Besides Belun® remoVital, Belun has an outstanding award-winning track record, Belun® Ring winning the Hong Kong ICT Award 2018 – Award of the year, ICT Startup Grand Award, and Smart Living Grand Award. The company also won 3 awards in the Asia Pacific ICT Award 2018, including the Inclusions and Community Services – Wellbeing category (Winner), Start-Up of the Year – Business and Community (Merit), and Technology of the Year – Big Data Analytics (Merit). 

Belun is a data technology company headquartered in Hong Kong with Preventive Healthcare Solutions powered by billions of health fingerprints and proprietary AI algorithms collected from global research in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore & Taiwan. Their medical-grade wearables & AI solutions (Belun Sleep Health System) for screening sleep health can evaluate treatment effectiveness for patients with chronic disease & predict health risks.

Video Showcase of the vital sign monitoring system: http://tiny.cc/Belun_remoVital

Continue Reading :

Part 1 – Digital Health Advancement

Part 2 – Digital Health Advancement

DM us if you are a potential partner!

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep health platform, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Health System with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling in the form below:

The post Remote vital sign monitoring tool empowered Belun Technology to protect the HK community and won the HKICT award 2022 appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Digital health has accelerated the advancement of the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond the use of infectious outbreaks. In this article, we further discuss how these innovative wearables have facilitated the management from initial diagnostic screening, and in-patient monitoring to reducing re-admission rates in hospital settings. 

Hospital Screening (eg. Diagnostic screening of obstructive Sleep Apnoea and insomnia)

FDA-cleared wearables for home sleep test has significantly revolutionized the screening of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which was previously expensive, labour- intensive and required hospitalization using polysomnography (1–3). Recently, wearables for home sleep tests have also expanded their diagnostic applications in providing new clinical and research insights into mental wellness and psychiatric disorders. Several commercial sleep trackers have been utilized to assist the diagnosis of insomnia apart from reported symptom-based diagnosis (4) which is subjective, labour-intensive and highly dependent on the clinician’s experience. 

Belun Sleep Platform (BSP), using an FDA-cleared wearable Ring, offers an automated home sleep test for patients with OSA and insomnia. Belun Sleep Platform (BSP) has the capability of monitoring and analyzing Oxygen saturation (SpO2), heart rate variability (HRV), photoplethysmography (PPG) waveform, and accelerometer-derived actigraphy data. It can calculate an estimated apnea-hyponea index (bAHI). It can also differentiate wakefulness from sleep, perform sleep stage analysis and give REM and NREM sleep duration using its artificial intelligence platform. Furthermore, it also shows autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities, including sympathetic and parasympathetic activities, throughout the monitoring period. 

In-patient monitoring

Continuous vital signs monitoring by wearable devices may allow timely detection of clinical deterioration for in-patients, especially in general ward settings. Some of the examples include the use of wearables on the wrist, upper arm, and chest to measure heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, SpO2, axillary and skin temperature. These alarm management systems may facilitate the detection of respiratory event for ICU transfer and, rapid response calls for better management, especially after surgery in surgical wards (5–7). Besides these technologies can significantly minimize the length of hospital stay, improvement of patient outcomes and also reduce strain on hospital resources especially on early postoperative monitoring for surgeries from cardiology, urology, oncology and even paediatrics (8). They may also facilitate earlier discharge, triaging of patients and reduction reducing healthcare expenses to both patients and the hospital. Moreover, vulnerable subjects, elderly, children or speech-impaired patients are particularly suited to wearable device monitoring to ensure better patient safety during their hospital stay with timely care (8). Another potential area of application using wearable devices is to provide objective pre-operative assessment for recovery rate in patients considering surgical treatment options. For example, accelerometer data collected by consumer wearable data prior to baseline can be used to evaluate one’s functional recovery, especially in orthopaedic surgeries (9). However, healthcare professionals may need to be aware of the limitations of these current digital gadgets, such as short battery life, poor signals connection and unexpectedly high frequency of alerts at default settings.  Substantial room for improvement or adjustment may be required during actual implementation. 

Post-operative monitoring to prevent readmission

Besides early post-operative monitoring in ward after surgery, post-operative monitoring after discharge is another key area of interest for hospital management. Wearable sensors which allow monitoring of vital physiological parameters (e.g. resting heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory frequency, arterial oxygen saturation, thoracic fluid content, and even blood pressure) are particularly useful in this aspect. Moreover, the adhesive chest sensor allows the detection of cardiac arrhythmia and is expected to allow long-term monitoring at home instead of conventional 24 h- Holter recording (7). Phone case or a watch bracelet containing an electrode to record a single lead ECG is possible to detect intermittent atrial fibrillation or supraventricular tachycardia, and it can be shared with specialists for timely consultation (10). The use of consumer wearable technology for post-operative monitoring by comparing the preoperative baseline activity level on the day prior to discharge after major colorectal surgery is another promising predictor for the risk of 30-day hospital readmission (11). Studies also showed that wearable technology has the ability to assess the associated post-operative complications in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery by analysing their baseline pre-operative activity levels (12). Other wearables such as disposable multisensory patches placed on the chest also showed promising results in early detection of impending rehospitalization (e.g. non-trauma hospitalization events, worsening heart failure events) with a predictive accuracy comparable to an implanted device (13). 

How Belun® remoVital facilitate in healthcare management of COVID-19

Belun® remoVital monitoring system is a real-time monitoring system composed of an FDA 510(k)- cleared Belun Ring, a body temperature sensor and a communication hub. The system measures vital signs, including blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate and body temperature. The installation is simple and user-friendly, and no pairing for Bluetooth or WiFi is required. The automatic connection with the cellular networks enables the system to run once it is turned on. It allows easy access to patients’ real-time measurements via the web portal. Besides, this real-time alarm customisation alerts healthcare professionals if any measured vital sign exceeds the pre-set thresholds.

During the 5^th wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, Belun® remoVital was widely implemented in quarantine centres, including the Asia World Expo; Belun® remoVital played a safe-guarding role, especially for elderly and vulnerable subjects during the COVID-19 infection. With the implementation of our system, Belun facilitated clinicians to manage 400 elderly patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms at the Asia World Expo. Our system not only significantly reduced manpower shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic but also reduced the risk of infection in our healthcare professionals.

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep Platform, Belun Ring and Sleep App, and Belun remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

The post Digital Health advancement: From initial screening, in-patient care to prevention of re-admission in hospital management (Part II) appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Digital health products (e.g., wearables, mobile medical applications or software, telehealth, and remote patient monitoring technologies) have played an important role and accelerated the advancement of the healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic. These products support not only public health surveillance, reduce the risk of infection but also reduce significant government healthcare burden. In this article, we discuss how The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) facilitated and made these advancements possible. Moreover, we will discuss some of the innovative examples that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these products made had revolutionized traditional routine healthcare and shed new light on digital health medicine.

FDA’s Digital Health Policies Support COVID-19 related Public Health Solutions

FDA has issued multiple temporary policies to support the implementation of these digital gadgets during public health emergencies (1). The FDA recognizes digital health technologies can provide powerful tools for public health officials and the public in the management of COVID-19 response and to reach out to a great number of people in a fast and effective manner. However, FDA does not consider the majority of apps and software systems for public health surveillance and communication to be devices regulated by the FDA. These technologies may mainly assist the public in retracing close contacts and documenting symptoms more efficiently.  The FDA generally does not regulate products that are used mainly for tracking locations or contacts as these devices often do not meet the definition of a device in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act). FDA regulates digital health products, which are medical devices, according to the level of risk posed to users (2).

According to the policy for device software functions and mobile medical applications (MMA), FDA has identified several software functions that are not devices within the meaning of FD&C Act but showed useful applications during the COVID-19 pandemic:

• Software that provides educational information about COVID-19
• Software that provides patients with commonly used reference information related to COVID-19
• Software that provides patients or individuals who are self-quarantining with information about their health conditions or treatment
• Software for video conferencing and telemedicine

FDA is also interested in expanding its engagement with manufacturers in the development of medical products related to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementation of wearable devices to facilitate preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic

Given the encouraging involvement of the FDA in speeding up the usage of digital health products during the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative digital systems or wearable devices are vastly implemented to assist the treatment and diagnosis. We herein address some of the innovative strategies implemented globally using wearable devices.

Mass surveillance testing has been a hot implementation strategy to control outbreaks, reduce manpower and enable cost-effective management during COVID-19. While variants of COVID-19 continue to evolve rapidly, diagnostic test shortages are prevalent globally. Shandhi et al. tried to develop an intelligent testing allocation method to leverage data from existing studies (a total number of 15345 participants) with smartwatch data. They also collected clinical information such as COVID-19 results. By collecting data from various databases, they found that resting heart rate (RHR) is an important feature in distinguishing between COVID-19 positive and negative subjects. The detection can be up to 10 days before the diagnostic test for COVID-19-positive cases(3).

Addressing the side effects of COVID-19 vaccination was another important issue during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, Quer et al. explored the possibility of using a smartphone-app-based research platform, smartwatch data, and self-reported medical history (e.g., vaccination information, COVID-19 test results). The research group also found that in most individuals, RHR increased after vaccination, peaked on day 2, and returned to baseline by day 6. This RHR was generally one standard deviation above individuals’ normal daily pattern in almost half (47%) of the participants (n=7728) after their second vaccine dose. Young women (< 40 years old) also experienced a greater response. This study also elucidated the potential use of wearables even for vaccine-induced immune response monitoring (4).

A population-based study in the USA published by Radin et al., by leveraging of smartwatch or fitness tracker, connected participants’ sensor data and the medical history of 35842 participants. They passively collected participants’ daily RHR and step count during the study period and identified anomalous days with abnormal RHR and reduced step count. These results showed that real-time disease tracking and forecasting of COVID-19 infection is possible using wearable technologies, and it has the potential to serve as important biomarkers in viral surveillance programs (5).

How Belun® remoVital facilitates in healthcare management of COVID-19

Belun® remoVital is a vital sign real-time monitoring system composed of an FDA 510(k)- cleared Belun® Ring, a body temperature sensor Belun® COR and a communication hub. The system measures vital signs, including blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, and body temperature. The installation is simple and user-friendly, and no pairing for Bluetooth or WiFi is required. The automatic connection with the cellular networks enables the system to run once it is turned on. It allows easy access to patients’ real-time measurements via the web portal. Besides, this real-time alarm customization alerts healthcare professionals if any measured vital sign exceeds the pre-set thresholds.

During the 5^th wave of COVID-19 in Hong Kong, Belun® remoVital was widely implemented in quarantine centers, including the Asia World Expo; Belun® remoVital played a safe-guarding role, especially for elderly and vulnerable subjects during the COVID-19 infection. With the implementation of our system, Belun facilitated clinicians to manage 400 elderly patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms at the Asia World Expo. Our system not only significantly reduced manpower shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic but also reduced the risk of infection in our healthcare professionals.

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep Platform, Belun Ring and Sleep App, and Belun remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

The post Digital Health advancement: From FDA policies to early detection and effective preventive healthcare management during infectious outbreaks (eg. COVID-19 pandemic) (Part 1) appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.

Photos by DP Dental

DM us if you are a potential partner!

Continued Reading :

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over 32 organizations, including HK hospital authority, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep health platform, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® RemoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including 1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592) and 2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040). If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, pls feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling in the form below:

The post Belun in Japan appeared first on Sleep Apnea Centre.