Bluetooth health monitoring lets you upload your vital stats to your doctor from home

Turning the health-care model upside down, a small Australian company is working on bluetooth technology that logs and transmits medical observation data to a central network through a mobile phone - so your doctor can call YOU when a problem is developing. Alive's bluetooth technology is already proving useful in the recovery of cardiac outpatients and the diagnosis of sleep apnea - and a range of products in development aim to make advancements in health monitoring for diabetics, mountaineers and athletes in training.

The core of the Alive technology is a fairly simple idea - bluetooth enabled health monitoring devices such as heart rate & activity monitors, ECGs, blood oximeters and blood glucose meters that communicate with software on your mobile phone to log and upload information to a central internet server.

The information can be uploaded in real-time over a GPRS mobile data connection if constant monitoring is required - such as in the case of cardiac arrest patients who are beginning to use exercise as part of their recovery - or saved onboard the device on an SD card to be batch uploaded at a convenient time if the data isn't so urgent.

This means that vital health information can be relayed to medical professionals without the need to visit a hospital, either constantly, daily or as needed. It's a major step forward in convenience for people who need various body metrics monitored, and could serve to relieve stress on overcrowded health systems.

Cardio Mobile program

The Alive Heart and Activity Monitor is already at work. "We have a program running with the Queensland University of Technology at the moment," explains Alive Technologies CEO Bruce Satchwell, " it's called the Cardio Mobile Project, based around cardio rehabilitation. Patients who have had some kind of heart problem - traditionally they'd come in to a hospital and do some exercises in the hospital, all hooked up to monitoring equipment.

"With cardio mobile they're able to have their ECG output monitored remotely through the internet as they exercise. In the worst case you can call an ambulance I guess... Although that never happens. People who have had a heart problem are sometimes terrified of exercise, they think it will bring on another heart condition and they don't exercise - so things just get worse. With proper exercise you can take these probems on. Cardio Mobile lets people get on with their lives and exercise in their own time, out of hospital, in the knowledge that their doctor can monitor them for problems."

Sleep apnea diagnosis

Sleep apnea is an increasingly common condition in which individuals pause from breathing several times a night. This leads to sleep disruption, snoring and all the symptoms you'd expect if you weren't getting quality sleep - everything from irritability and lack of concentration to high blood pressure and eventually heart problems. It's a serious and debilitating condition that can only be diagnosed while the patient is asleep.

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