IMPACT

Vital signs (heart rate, breathing rate, temperature, BP, capillary refill time etc) are fundamental measures used for diagnosis and monitoring in primary care.

New technologies are allowing easier, more accurate, and more informative measurement of these vital signs to inform patient care.

DESCRIPTION

Several clinical measures are so important, they are considered ‘vital signs’, these include heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, temperature (among others). Clinicians (and individuals themselves) commonly measure these to identify potential serious illness, to guide when to seek medical care, and to monitor for improvement or worsening of their condition.

We have extensive experience with a range of research that has been ground-breaking in 1) developing new technologies to measure vital signs in adults and children, 2) conducting very large studies in primary care to demonstrate the diagnostic and prognostic value of single and combinations of vital signs to detect meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis, 3) Creating centile charts of heart rates and breathing rates expected in children at different ages, and with different levels of temperature.

 

WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL IMPACT ON PRIMARY CARE?

Vital signs are one important tool that clinicians and their patients have long used to detect and monitor illness. New ways of measuring these physiological parameters at home and in the clinic might allow even more accurate and practical ways to take advantage of these critical signs. These include the use of smartphones to detect, interpret and monitor vital signs at home and in primary care settings

WHAT IS PCI-LAB DOING?

Using vital signs to improve the diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of individuals with acute illness has been a long-standing area of expertise for PCI Lab. We are partnering on several studies which are examining new methods to detect vital signs using smartphones, research on the value of home-based BP measurement, and use of wearables to detect viral respiratory tract infections.

Publications

The Diagnostic Value of Capillary Refill Time for Detecting Serious Illness in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Fleming S, Gill P, Jones C, Taylor JA, Van den Bruel A, Heneghan C, Roberts N, Thompson M. PLoS One. 2015 Sep 16;10(9):e0138155. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0138155. eCollection 2015.PMID: 26375953 Free PMC article.

Normal ranges of heart rate and respiratory rate in children from birth to 18 years of age: a systematic review of observational studies.

Fleming S, Thompson M, Stevens R, Heneghan C, Plüddemann A, Maconochie I, Tarassenko L, Mant D .Lancet. 2011 Mar 19;377(9770):1011-8. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62226-X.PMID: 21411136 Free PMC article

Development and internal validation of a clinical rule to improve antibiotic use in children presenting to primary care with acute respiratory tract infection and cough: a prognostic cohort study.

Hay AD, Redmond NM, Turnbull S, Christensen H, Thornton H, Little P, Thompson M, Delaney B, Lovering AM, Muir P, Leeming JP, Vipond B, Stuart B, Peters TJ, Blair PS.  Lancet Respir Med. 2016 Nov;4(11):902-910. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(16)30223-5. Epub 2016 Sep 1.PMID: 27594440 Free PMC article.

Respiratory rate estimation during triage of children in hospitals.

Shah SA, Fleming S, Thompson M, Tarassenko L. J Med Eng Technol. 2015;39(8):514-24. doi: 10.3109/03091902.2015.1105316.PMID: 26548638


How well do vital signs identify children with serious infections in paediatric emergency care?

Thompson M, Coad N, Harnden A, Mayon-White R, Perera R, Mant D. Arch Dis Child. 2009 Nov;94(11):888-93. doi: 10.1136/adc.2009.159095. Epub 2009 Jul 15.PMID: 19608555

 

Non-invasive measurement of respiratory rate in children using the photoplethysmogram.

Fleming S, Tarassenko L, Thompson M, Mant D. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2008;2008:1886-9. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2008.4649554.PMID: 19163057

 

Deriving temperature and age appropriate heart rate centiles for children with acute infections.

Thompson M, Harnden A, Perera R, Mayon-White R, Smith L, McLeod D, Mant D. Arch Dis Child. 2009 May;94(5):361-5. doi: 10.1136/adc.2008.145011. Epub 2008 Nov 19.PMID: 19019883

FUNDER

Multiple sources