The days of women waiting for their home pregnancy kit to turn blue or pink could come to an end soon. Scientists have now developed a new electronic bracelet that can alert woman when they are pregnant.
The sensors on the wearable bracelet can measure changes in heart rate, body temperature, breathing rate and bio-impedance – how much a woman is sweating. And, an alarm will reveal if the user is expecting.
Scientists believe that this new device will mark an end of the traditional test which was invented in 1968.The research was reportedly presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in San Antonio.
A senior researcher at the University of Zurich, Mohaned Shilaih who developed this unique bracelet with Swiss company Ava said: "When a woman gets pregnant, there are several physical parameters that change around this time. These include body temperature, breathing rate, pulse rate and others."
The technology promises to allow women to get rid of the morning ritual of a home pregnancy test, which assesses levels of human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) in urine.
The smart bracelet will be able to detect pregnancy around a week after conception which is expected to cost around £200. The developers, however, believe that in the future, it may be able to detect conception sooner.
Mohaned Shilaih explained: "Rather than waking up every morning and trying to pee on a stick to detect the rise in hCG you would simply have to wear the bracelet both night and day."
Dr Shilaih said that so far the bracelet had been tested over 100 monthly cycles, and it had predicted 21 pregnancies. The next stage will be to do a bigger test, which will be on 1,000 monthly cycles with 100 pregnancies.
