# PlaIMoS: A Remote Mobile Healthcare Platform to Monitor Cardiovascular and Respiratory Variables
## 1 Introduction  
### Research Background and Motivation  
The high incidence of chronic diseases among the general population and an increasing number of elderly, chronically-ill patients is placing ever-increasing demands on healthcare professionals, leading to the development of programs and technological proposals to support innovative at-home health care. Two of the most common chronic diseases that require monitoring as a diagnostic or control tool are cardiovascular and lung diseases. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 60% of all worldwide deaths in 2005 resulted from chronic illnesses and half of the 35 million persons dying that year were under the age of 70, with stroke, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases representing the most common causes [1]. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) was the leading cause of death of approximately 17.5 million persons in 2012, representing approximately 31% of all worldwide deaths from chronic illnesses. Of these deaths, close to 7.4 million were the result of coronary heart disease and approximately 6.7 million were caused by strokes [2]. More recent research carried in 2014 by the British HeartFoundation found that diseases affecting the heart and circulatory system (or CVD) represent the second most common cause of death in the United Kingdom, with a total of around 155,000 deaths (CVD caused 27% of all deaths in the UK) [3]. Heart disease is often caused by an insufficient flow of blood to the cardiovascular muscle, which results in insufficient oxygenation of the heart. Constant monitoring of the heart's electrical activity is necessary to detect the presence of cardiac arrhythmia to confirm whether the heart has signs of potentially suffering or having suffered a previous heart attack [4]. Electrocardiographic techniques, however, are passive in nature and can only be administered in clinical settings. Their major deficiency is that arrhythmias are fleeting in nature, often occurring sporadically for brief moments over prolonged periods of time. Consequently, many arrhythmias do not present themselves during traditional in-office electrocardiograms (ECGs). The Holter Device, also known as ambulatory electrocardiography, was developed to record patient data for more prolonged periods of two days or so. The Holter Device's primary disadvantage is that it only records patient information, making it necessary for the patient to return to the medical practitioner to have the data downloaded and analyzed. If a patient has a serious life-threatening episode, the Holter Device cannot help the patient obtain assistance, as it does not transmit information. The PlaMoS platform presently makes real-time data monitoring, transmission and analysis possible, thus providing a significant improvement in how chronically ill cardiac patients receive medical attention. Similarly, the World Health Organization estimates around 4 million persons die every year because of chronic respiratory diseases, which represents 6% of all worldwide deaths. The most common chronic lung diseases include asthma, pulmonary hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and occupational lung diseases, among others. Other factors affecting lung function include chronic bronchitis, cancer, cystic fibrosis, bacterial infections and environmental factors (air pollution, dust, chemicals), which can stress or compromise persons who already have respiratory difficulties. Although there are no cures for CVDs, various treatments exist to help improve shortness of breath, manage symptoms, and increase the quality of life for people with the disease. 24 h per day patient monitoring of patient respiration rate, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate provides parameters to determine whether their respiratory and cardiovascular systems are relaxed or stressed [5; 6].