New Cellphones Monitor Your Health

The world is about to get four billion more nurses. With the
help of add-on apps and gadgets, cellphones can become
medical helpers that track and transmit your vitals to
physicians. These mobile aides will help catch diseases
early, save ER visits, and cut health-care costs. And as
future implants let phones trigger drug release, your
favorite gadget may even save your life.

Now: Track Your Own Health

Today’s medical cellphone apps focus on fitness, an area that
doesn’t require FDA approval. Strap this heart monitor around
your chest while you jog, and it beams info over Bluetooth to
the Nokia N79 Active. Software on the phone records your
heart rate, along with your route, altitude, speed and
distance, as calculated by a GPS chip in the phone. Chart
your progress, or compare it with your friends’, on Nokia’s
Sports Tracker Web site.

Soon: Loop in Your Doctor

Next year you’ll see the first apps that link your phone to
bona fide medical devices, such as blood-pressure cuffs and
diabetics’ glucose meters, and send stats straight to
a doctor for instant review. The Health on the Go program,
now in tests on BlackBerry phones, captures blood pressure
and oxygen and sugar levels when you connect instruments
using Bluetooth. Alerts remind you to check your stats and
what your target numbers are.

Later: Let the Doctor Take Over

The mobile devices of 2012 and beyond (like the concept
below) will check vitals automatically, so you don’t even
have to stop texting. Researchers at the University of Texas
are developing implantable sensors that use short-range radio
chips to constantly beam vital signs to your phone. Your cell
then relays info to your doctor, who can send back
instructions for the implants. For instance, your phone could
signal the sensor to take extra measurements or, eventually,
to release built-in doses of insulin or painkiller.