Wearable Sensors in Vital Health Monitoring

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About this Research Topic

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Background

Wearable and implantable devices have rapidly entered the area of digital health in various biomedical applications including monitoring, tracking, and recording the vital signs of people with the aim of improving their health. Consequently, wearable technology can be an innovative solution for healthcare problems. Advancements in packaging and fabrication technologies have enabled embedding various microelectronic and micromechanical sensors, such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, and image sensors, into a small area on a rigid or flexible substrate with high sensitivity at a low cost. Wearable technologies enable the continuous monitoring of human physical activities and behaviors, as well as physiological and biochemical parameters during daily life. The most commonly measured data include vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, as well as blood oxygen saturation, posture, and physical activities through the use of electrocardiograms (ECG), ballistocardiograms (BCG), and other devices.

The popularity of wearable technologies is increasing day by day. In the near future, wearable technologies are expected to become an indispensable part of our daily life. The first aim of this Research Topic is to classify wearable technologies based on the specifications and applications of wearable health technologies. The second aim is to address how wearable technologies will be a milestone both for personal daily life and the business practices of companies in the future. We will also consider the signal readout of wearable sensors as well as the potential applications of wearable health technologies, as it is expected that the future will be safer, easier and healthier with these technologies.

This Research Topic focuses on wearable technology in biomedical applications, specifically vital sign monitoring. Wearable technologies hold promise to tackle major challenges in healthcare, such as remote monitoring of the elderly, assessing stroke patient treatment in daily life, and chronic wound monitoring. Wearable health devices are increasingly helping people to better monitor their health status both at an activity/fitness level for self-health tracking and at a medical level providing more data to clinicians with a potential for earlier diagnostic and guidance of treatment. The creation of reliable and inexpensive devices for personalized monitoring of vital signs is of crucial importance, especially in the wake of events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the health of every country’s population in the world.

This article collection of Biosensors and Biomolecular Electronics, entitled "Wearable Sensors In Vital Health Monitoring", focuses on all aspects of the research and development related to these areas. Research papers that focus on the design and implementation of new wearable and textile-based sensors, the signal readout of these sensors (e.g. wireless monitoring and smartphone signal readout) and papers focusing on these sensors' utilization in vital health monitoring are welcome. Both reviews and original research articles will be considered for publication.

Keywords: flexible sensors, Wireless monitoring, Preclinical testing, Clinical testing, Health monitoring, Textile sensors, Self-powered sensors, Wearable sensors, The Internet of Medical Things, Vital sign monitoring

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