QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Jul 2026) — Testing for heart disease usually requires heavy hospital equipment, but a new artificial brain AI model developed by Ateneo de Manila University can now predict cardiovascular health using simple skin stickers.
The World Health Organization reports a worrying rise in metabolic conditions like obesity and high blood pressure among young people aged 20 to 29. While advanced cardiac tracking normally demands high-tech machines found only in major city hospitals, this new Filipino-led system offers a patient-friendly alternative to traditional monitoring.
How the skin stickers work
Led by Dr. Patricia Angela R. Abu from the Ateneo Department of Information Systems and Computer Science, an international team of scientists created the system to calculate the cardiac index. This metric tells doctors how well a heart pumps blood by tracking vital indicators like heart rate, stroke volume, and overall cardiac output.
Instead of using invasive procedures, the system reads basic physiological data from non-invasive sensor stickers placed directly on a patient’s skin. The AI then analyzes these indicators to deliver a classification accuracy rate of 97.78 percent.
During the study, researchers utilized tools like the InBody 720 body composition analyzer, the Terumo ES-P2000 blood pressure monitor, and a PhysioFlow blood flow analyzer to gather initial measurements from adhesive sensors placed on the backs of patients.
Bringing healthcare out of the hospital
The team published their findings in the April 2026 issue of the MDPI Bioengineering journal. They now plan to test the AI model across more diverse populations to see if they can reduce the number of required physical measurements even further, making advanced cardiac care highly accessible to community clinics.
Pinoys looking to read the full study can access it via the Archium Ateneo institutional repository.
