Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Respiratory Physiology and Pathophysiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1502413

Contactless and Continuous Monitoring of Respiratory Rate in a Hospital Ward: A Clinical Validation Study

Provisionally accepted
Ståle Toften Ståle Toften 1*Jonas Tøgersen Kjellstadli Jonas Tøgersen Kjellstadli 1Jørn Kværness Jørn Kværness 2Line Pedersen Line Pedersen 3,4Lars Erik Laugsand Lars Erik Laugsand 3Ole Kristian Forstrønen Thu Ole Kristian Forstrønen Thu 1,3
  • 1 Vitalthings AS, Trondheim, Norway
  • 2 God Klinisk Forskning, Oppdal, Norway
  • 3 St Olav's University Hospital, Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway
  • 4 NTNU, Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Continuous monitoring of respiratory rate in hospital wards can provide early detection of clinical deterioration, thereby reducing mortality, reducing transfers to intensive care units, and reducing the hospital length of stay. Despite the advantages of continuous monitoring, manually counting every 1 to 12 hours remains the standard of care in most hospital wards. The objective of this study was to validate continuous respiratory rate measurements from a radar-based contactless patient monitor (Vitalthings Guardian M10 [Vitalthings AS, Norway]) in a hospital ward.Methods: An observational study (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT06083272) was conducted at the emergency ward of a university hospital. Adult patients were monitored during rest with Vitalthings Guardian M10 in both a stationary and mobile configuration simultaneously with a reference device (Nox T3s [Nox Medical, Alpharetta, GA, USA]). The agreement was assessed using Bland-Altman 95% limits of agreement. The sensitivity and specificity of clinical alarms were evaluated using a Clarke Error grid modified for continuous monitoring of respiratory rate. Clinical aspects were further evaluated in terms of trend analysis and examination of gaps between valid measurements.Results: 32 patients were monitored for a median duration of 42 minutes (IQR [range] 35-46 [30-59] minutes). The bias was 0.1 and 0.0 breaths min -1 and the 95% limits of agreement ranged from -1.1 to 1.2 and -1.1 to 1.1 breaths min -1 for the stationary and mobile configuration, respectively. The concordances for trends were 96%. No clinical alarms were missed, and no false alarms or technical alarms were generated. No interval without a valid measurement was longer than 5 minutes.Conclusions: Vitalthings Guardian M10 measured respiratory rate accurately and continuously in resting patients in a hospital ward.

    Keywords: Contactless, continuous, Monitoring, Respiratory Rate, Hospital, Clinical deterioration, Validation

    Received: 28 Sep 2024; Accepted: 05 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Toften, Kjellstadli, Kværness, Pedersen, Laugsand and Thu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ståle Toften, Vitalthings AS, Trondheim, Norway

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.