CVDMagic: a mobile based study for CVD risk detection in rural India

Cardio-Vascular Diseases (CVD) are one of the major healthcare problems across the world, causing deaths for nearly 17 million people every year. With more than 80% of all CVD cases occurring in developing countries, it is a big challenge that needs immediate attention. Specifically for India, World Health Organization (WHO) and many other organizations have predicted rapid growth of CVD patients in near future. It is known that CVD can be prevented or deferred, if detected in its earlier stages and by subsequently adapting to appropriate preventive methods. Cost and availability of lab equipments -- for early diagnosis of CVD -- act as deterrents in controlling the spread of CVD cases in India, particularly in the rural parts. Non-laboratory based methods overcome the factor of cost while mobile technology provides the availability to allow for approaches that can detect CVD risk early even in the remotest part of the country. In this paper we present CVDMagic -- a mobile phone based study for CVD risk detection. Our study, a mixed-method approach, uses two non-laboratory based approaches (including one proposed by WHO) together with inputs from local doctors corresponding to Indian context. We also present analysis from initial survey (of 169 people) from a pilot deployment of CVDMagic. The preliminary analysis suggests that mobile-based approaches can be used for efficiently collecting required data leading to accurate, low-cost, non-laboratory based early detection of CVD risk in Indian context.