Abstract
Conventional methods for measuring cardiovascular parameters use skin contact techniques requiring a measuring device to be worn by the user. To avoid discomfort of contact devices, camera-based techniques using photoplethysmography have been recently introduced. Nevertheless, these solutions are typically expensive and difficult to be used daily at home. In this work, we propose an innovative solution for monitoring cardiovascular parameters that is low cost and can be easily integrated within any common home environment. The proposed system is a contact-less device composed of a see-through mirror equipped with a camera that detects the person’s face and processes video frames using photoplethysmography in order to estimate the heart rate, the breath rate and the blood oxygen saturation. In addition, the color of lips is automatically detected via clustering-based color quantization. The estimated parameters are used to predict a risk of cardiovascular disease by means of fuzzy inference rules integrated in the mirror-based monitoring system. Comparing our system to a contact device in measuring vital parameters on still or slightly moving subjects, we achieve measurement errors that are within acceptable margins according to the literature. Moreover, in most cases, the response of the fuzzy rule-based system is comparable with that of the clinician in assessing a risk level of cardiovascular disease.
Highlights
Cardiovascular diseases are on the list of top ten causes of annual global death in 2015 (GlobalHealth Estimates: www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/), regular assessment of the cardiovascular function is fundamental to prevent chronic diseases and to evolve treatment therapies adequately
We propose an innovative solution for non-contact monitoring of vital signs that satisfies both low-cost and comfort requirements and acts as a decision-making system to support medical diagnosis of cardiovascular disease
The proposed system is a smart device that acquires the face of the subject in front of the mirror, processes the signals coming from the face image and estimates values of four vital parameters, namely hearth rate, breath rate, blood oxygen saturation and color of lips
Summary
Cardiovascular diseases are on the list of top ten causes of annual global death in 2015 (GlobalHealth Estimates: www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/estimates/en/), regular assessment of the cardiovascular function is fundamental to prevent chronic diseases and to evolve treatment therapies adequately. Cardiovascular diseases are on the list of top ten causes of annual global death in 2015 The constant monitoring of vital signs, such as heart rate and arterial blood oxygen saturation, is the basis to detect a risk level of cardiovascular disease [1]. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the most widely adopted technique to provide correct and reliable values for cardiac monitoring. This technique realizes an invasive acquisition mode, since it requires the contact between the electrodes and the skin, and an incorrect positioning of the electrodes on the skin can induce tissue irritation. Photoplethysmography (PPG) [2] has been introduced as a low cost and non-invasive means of sensing the cardiovascular pulse wave ( called the blood volume pulse) through variations in transmitted or reflected light
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