New mHealth Wearable Sensor Boosts Flexibility, Durability

Engineers at the University of Waterloo recently developed a durable, flexible sensor for mHealth wearable devices to monitor everything from vital signs to athletic performance. 

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of British Columbia, utilized 3D printing and nanotechnology to combine silicone rubber with layers of graphene, a material for making wristbands or shoe insoles, to create a wearable that fits comfortably to different body shapes of users. 

“Silicone gives us the flexibility and durability required for biomonitoring applications, and the added, embedded graphene makes it an effective sensor,” said Ehsan Toyserkani, research director at the Multi-Scale Additive Manufacturing (MSAM) Lab at Waterloo. “It’s all together in a single part.” 

The complex, internal features of the wearable are only possible using 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, equipment and processes, the announcement stated.  This is the reason the rubber-graphene material is durable and conductive in any setting.

“It can be used in the harshest environments, in extreme temperatures and humidity,” said Elham Davoodi, an engineering PhD student at Waterloo who led the project. “It could even withstand being washed with your laundry. 

The 3D printing process also reduces manufacturing costs due to simplicity. But the process does not compromise the wearable system, the announcement highlighted. The rubber-graphene sensor can be paired with electronic components to make wearable devices that “record heart and breathing rates, register the forces exerted when athletes run, allow doctors to remotely monitor patients, and numerous other potential applications,” Toyserkani emphasized.

mHealth technologies help healthcare organizations monitor patients from the comfort of their own home and allow doctors to better manage their care 24/7. The US healthcare industry has enhanced the mHealth dialogue in the last few years. 

“Mobile Health may catalyze the healthcare delivery model from historical, episodic model into a tangible, patient-centric model,” a recent blog post from John Orzechowski, MBA, clinical assistant professor of health informatics and mHealth at the University of Illinois stressed.

“mHealth is being viewed increasingly by many as an important technology metaphor to achieve rich, robust patient engagement, ultimately, achieving a patient-centric paradigm change,” he wrote.

mHealth wearable technology has been particularly useful for controlling outbreaks.

Flu season has been upon us for months, with new strands of sicknesses more prevalent now than ever. In January, researchers at Scripps Research Translation Institute leveraged Fitbits to uncover potential flu outbreaks.

Using data from nearly 50,000 people wearing Fitbits between 2016 and 2018, researchers tracked sleep patterns, resting heart rate (RHR), and general activity among users in Texas, California, New York, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. They compared the data they received to influenza-like illnesses (ILIs) recorded by the CDC.

Researchers found that Fitbits may be able to provide experts with enough information to identify potential outbreaks. They noted that individuals with the flu tended to have an elevated RHR, sleep more, and move around less.

“Activity and physiological trackers are increasingly used in the USA and globally to monitor individual health,” said Eric Topol, MD. “By accessing these data, it could be possible to improve real-time and geographically refined influenza surveillance. This information could be vital to enact timely outbreak response measures to prevent further transmission of influenza cases during outbreaks.” 

mHealth wearables look to improve patient-centered care and allow providers an opportunity to stop an outbreak before it occurs – a skill that could be useful as the country faces outbreaks of new diseases, like COVID-19.

“In the future, wearables could include additional sensors to prospectively track blood pressure, temperature, electrocardiogram, and cough analysis, which could be used to further characterize an individual’s baseline and identify abnormalities,” Topol emphasized.

“Capturing physiological and behavioral data from a growing number of wearable device users globally could greatly improve timeliness and precision of public health responses and even inform individual clinical care. It could also fill major gaps in regions where influenza surveillance data are not available.”