Noncommunicable diseases (NCD), such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, are defining healthcare challenges of the 21st century. Medical infrastructure, which for decades sought to reduce the incidence and severity of communicable diseases, has proven insufficient in meeting the intensive, long‐term monitoring needs of many NCD disease patient groups. In addition, existing portable devices with rigid electronics are still limited in clinical use due to unreliable data, limited functionality, and lack of continuous measurement ability. Here, a wearable system for at‐home cardiovascular monitoring of postpartum women—a group with urgently unmet NCD needs in the United States—using a cloud‐integrated soft sternal device with conformal nanomembrane sensors is introduced. A supporting mobile application provides device data to a custom cloud architecture for real‐time waveform analytics, including medical device‐grade blood pressure prediction via deep learning, and shares the results with both patient and clinician to complete a robust and highly scalable remote monitoring ecosystem. Validated in a month‐long clinical study with 20 postpartum Black women, the system demonstrates its ability to remotely monitor existing disease progression, stratify patient risk, and augment clinical decision‐making by informing interventions for groups whose healthcare needs otherwise remain unmet in standard clinical practice.
Stress is one of the main causes that increase the risk of serious health problems. Recent wearable devices have been used to monitor stress levels via electrodermal activities on the skin. Although many biosensors provide adequate sensing performance, they still rely on uncomfortable, partially flexible systems with rigid electronics. These devices are mounted on either fingers or palms, which hinders a continuous signal monitoring. A fully‐integrated, stretchable, wireless skin‐conformal bioelectronic (referred to as “SKINTRONICS”) is introduced here that integrates soft, multi‐layered, nanomembrane sensors and electronics for continuous and portable stress monitoring in daily life. The all‐in‐one SKINTRONICS is ultrathin, highly soft, and lightweight, which overall offers an ergonomic and conformal lamination on the skin. Stretchable nanomembrane electrodes and a digital temperature sensor enable highly sensitive monitoring of galvanic skin response (GSR) and temperature. A set of comprehensive signal processing, computational modeling, and experimental study provides key aspects of device design, fabrication, and optimal placing location. Simultaneous comparison with two commercial stress monitors captures the enhanced performance of SKINTRONICS in long‐term wearability, minimal noise, and skin compatibility. In vivo demonstration of continuous stress monitoring in daily life reveals the unique capability of the soft device as a real‐world applicable stress monitor.
more » « less- Award ID(s):
- 1939094
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10456679
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Science
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 2198-3844
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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