Ōura plans to roll out a swath of health and wellness features in June, following the launch of its latest smart ring.
Among the new additions will be a tool to track nighttime blood pressure patterns and the ability to view nighttime breathing data over a 30-day period. Ōura announced the features, along with its Ōura Ring 5, on Thursday.
Jason Russell, vice president of consumer software product at Ōura, told MedTech Dive that the blood pressure feature is intended to show trends in overnight changes and the relationship to daily habits, such as sleep, stress and exercise.
Ōura plans to offer blood pressure signals as a wellness feature, meaning it would not be regulated as a medical device, but there are some limitations on what it can tell users.
The feature does not show systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings. It’s intended to give people more awareness of their blood pressure, and “when there is evidence of something that should be discussed with your doctor, nudging you to do that in thoughtful ways with careful wording,” Russell said.
The Food and Drug Administration previously regulated products that measure blood pressure as medical devices, but changed its stance in a January guidance.
Ōura has a separate, ongoing study of another blood pressure feature approved by an institutional review board. That tool would be intended to surface hidden hypertension risk, and would be regulated by the FDA, Russell said.
Nighttime breathing and ResMed partnership
Ōura also plans to expand its nighttime breathing feature. Currently, users can view breathing regularity on a night-by-night basis, but with the update, they will be able to view their trends over 30 days. Ōura cannot flag specific health conditions such as sleep apnea, but it can give people a longer-term trend view, Russell said.
Earlier this month, Ōura struck a partnership with ResMed, allowing people who experience breathing disturbances to talk to a clinician or get educational material or a sleep assessment through ResMed, which makes equipment used to treat sleep apnea.
Ōura also announced a health record feature to allow people to import diagnoses, medications, lab results and allergies, and a partnership with AI-enabled virtual care firm Counsel Health as part of its broader health push.
