Lifelight First for monitoring vital signs

The technology described in this briefing is Lifelight First. It is used for measuring indicative estimates of blood pressure (mmHg), pulse rate (beats per minute), and respiration rate (respirations per minute) in people who need vital sign measurements. This technology is at an early stage of development and this briefing is based on unpublished evidence with limited cost data.

The innovative aspects are that it does not make direct contact with people or medical hardware, potentially limiting cross-contamination. It also uses algorithms to analyse the measurements.

The intended place in therapy would be hospitals, clinics and other healthcare settings and for people that need vital sign monitoring. It may be particularly useful when current methods cannot readily be used.

The main points from the evidence summarised in this briefing are from 2 unpublished studies, a single-arm observational study and a validation study. These studies included a mixed population of 8,712 inpatients, outpatients and healthy volunteers in both clinical and non-clinical settings. These studies show that the accuracy of Lifelight First is similar to some clinical-grade monitoring devices when compared with the Welch Allyn Connex Monitor for measuring heart rate, blood pressure and manual counting for measuring respiratory rate.

Key uncertainties around the evidence or technology are that the evidence base does not evaluate the technology in a clinically relevant population, including people that need routine monitoring of vital signs. The evidence is unpublished, meaning there are uncertainties about the reliability of the findings. The evidence only reports direct statistical comparison of the accuracy data with the Welsh Allyn Connex monitor. Comparisons with other similar technologies are indirect. The evidence does not report diagnostic accuracy data or clinical outcomes, such as how the technology would be used to inform care decisions.

The cost of Lifelight First is £12.50 per healthcare practitioner per month (excluding VAT) as part of a subscription, plus additional costs for training and implementation. The resource impact would be greater than standard care. The cost of standard monitors such as the Welch Allyn Connex Monitor for manually monitoring heart rate and blood pressure is approximately £200 (but costs for similar technologies vary from £10 to over £1,000).