Test uses smartphone to detect prediabetes in a simple way

A home test to diagnose pre-diabetes symptoms Created by researchers at the University of Washington (UW) in the United States, it could be an inexpensive and effective solution for the population suffering from this condition.

Pre-diabetes indicates the presence of high blood sugar, but still below levels that would be considered type 2 diabetes. The condition can progress to diabetes, but this progression can be prevented with lifestyle changes and medications.

The experimental system, called GlucoScreen, turns into a glucose test strip without a reader attached to any mobile phone’s touchscreen, eliminating the need to purchase a separate dedicated reader (glucometer). “Gambiarra” uses the sensing of the capacitive touch of the screen, the touch screen, to transmit data from the strip to the device.

According to the survey published March 28 in the journal ACM’s Proceedings on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous TechnologiesGlucoScreen uses machine learning technology to analyze data and calculate the user’s blood sugar.

How does GlucoScreen work?

Conventional blood testing uses a glucometer to analyze the chemical reaction of a drop of blood supplied by the user, according to Anandghan Waghmare, a doctoral candidate at the UW Allen School, lead author of the study. enzymes of the strip, in GlucoScreen this task is left to the “cheap circuits” added to the strip.

Waghmare explains that transmission is done the same way we express our reactions with touches on the screen. “Instead of a single tap to produce just one movement, [o circuito] fires several strokes at varying speeds. This is similar to the way Morse code conveys information with ring tones.”.

As soon as we receive the data generated by the reaction of these simulated touches on the screen, the installed application starts processing it. Then GlucoScreen analyzes the information and displays the result directly on the mobile phone screen. According to research, Efficacy is comparable to AccuChek and True Metrix commercial glucometers.