This seems interesting… (another new announcement at CES tradeshow). Does anyone have any knowledge about this type of cardiorespiratory function assessments and their value? It sounds like its targeted at lower health status people and possibly hospitals?
By connecting hi-tech sensors with a mobile app, Splendo hopes to provide better cardiorespiratory function (CRF) data. You can think of CRF like a “parallel, additional track” to heart rate variability (HRV), a type of variation in heart rate that is measured by wearable devices like Fitbits, Apple Watches or the Aura ring, Sanchez said.
“With HRV, you’re just really measuring beats between your heartbeats, the distance of that,” Sanchez said. “With CRF, now, we can measure that, plus how your lungs and your muscles properly and efficiently would use the oxygen as fuel for your body’s engine.”
Traditionally, CRF assessments require the person who is being tested to raise their heart rate by doing some kind of cardiovascular exercise, usually on a treadmill or a stationary bike, while wearing a mask to measure oxygen intake and sensors to measure heart rate.
The problems of this traditional model are myriad. This traditional model requires that a person be baseline healthy enough to perform physical activity, which can be difficult for the sick, disabled and elderly. The traditional model can also be costly, as it requires the labor of at least two nurses—one to monitor the patient and one to monitor the data—and requires access to expensive equipment, which can be debilitating for smaller or poorly-funded facilities.
Requiring just a few sensors and a smartphone or tablet, Splendo’s technology has a much lower relative cost than traditional methods, making it more affordable to the community health clinics or primary care doctors who are most likely to see low-income and high-risk patients.
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