My mother was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 59. Healthy as a horse all her life, the diagnosis sent her into an instant panic.

It didn’t matter that high BP is a fairly common condition affecting some one in three adults in the U.S. alone. What mattered was that it could result in coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney failure, and other health problems.

Now MIT engineers have designed a wearable blood pressure sensor that offers 24 / 7 continuous monitoring. The monitor is supposed to be just as accurate as regular cuff devices, but less cumbersome and can be worn for hours at a time or even a few days at a time, to provide continuous monitoring.

This is exciting news to those suffering from serious blood pressure disorders, even though they might have to wait a few years, before a commercial version is out in the market.

Read more about this development on the MIT web site.