The Fitbit-style bracelet that can tell a woman that she is pregnant
THE days of women waiting for a home pregnancy kit to turn blue or pink could be numbered.
Scientists have developed an electronic bracelet that will bleep when a woman is expecting a baby. And they believe this could mean the end of the traditional test, which was developed in 1969.
The wearable sensor – similar to a Fitbit activity tracker – measures heartbeat, temperature, how much a woman is sweating and other body changes.
Dr Mohaned Shilaih, a senior researcher at the University of Zurich, who has developed the bracelet with Swiss company Ava, said: ‘When a woman gets pregnant, there are several physical parameters that change.
‘These include body temperature, breathing rate and pulse rate. It is known that during pregnancy pulse rate goes up.’
Currently, most pregnancy tests involve women using a stick- shaped device to test their urine for the presence of the hormone human chorionic gonadotrophin, which starts to be produced around six days after fertilisation. A window in the device shows whether the woman is pregnant, with some showing a blue line to indicate pregnancy and others a pink line.
Electronic devices which can tell when a woman is pregnant are on the market already – but they also detect hormone levels in urine.
The makers of the new bracelet believe it will be more user friendly. Women will not have to do repeated urine tests when they wake up to check whether they are pregnant, they will simply have to wear the bracelet. ‘You won’t have to go out of your way to do something extra,’ said Dr Shilaih.
The new device could also give an earlier warning of pregnancy. When the bracelet detects that a woman is pregnant, she will be alerted via a smartphone app.
Research on the device was presented at the annual congress of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio, Texas.
The scientists analysed 21 cycles in woman that led to pregnancy and 137 that did not.
They found that early pregnancy was characterised by a significant increase in pulse rate of 2.1 beats per minute, and skin temperature going up by 0.2C.
It is these changes that the bracelet would pick up – and the team are developing an algorithm that would combine this information to alert a woman that she is pregnant.
The cost of the new device has not yet been released but the company already produces a similar device, costing £199, which can tell a woman when she has the best chance of getting pregnant. The bracelet has still to be tested further on a larger number of women to make sure it is reliable.