TERVA: System for long-term monitoring of wellness at home

Long-term monitoring of physiological and psychosocial variables in out-hos pital conditions would be beneficial for investigating changes in wellness status of an individual or to understand interaction between physiological and behavioral processes. We aimed to design a personal wellness monitoring system (TERVA), which would allow monitoring of wellness-related variables at home for several weeks or even months. The designed TERVA system runs o n a laptop computer and interfaces with different measurement devices throu gh a serial interface. Measured variables include beat-to-beat heart rate, motor activity, blood pressure, weight, body temperature, respiration, ball istocardiography, movements, and sleep stages. In addition, self-assessment s of daily well-being and activities are stored by keeping a behavioral dia ry. To test the system, one healthy man used the system for 10 weeks. The s ystem was successfully applied in out-hospital conditions. The success rate of the measurements was 70-91%, depending on the variable under considerat ion. The pilot study indicated that the recorded data accurately reflected the health status of the subject. The TERVA system provides a method to rec ord and investigate wellness-related data over several weeks, or even month s, outside the hospital among subjects capable of using a personal computer . Several applications of the system are discussed.