OVERVIEW:
Longer life expectancies bring significant societal difficulties and put further strain on already overburdened health systems. Digital technology can potentially revolutionize how we manage health and independence in aging populations by replacing traditional medical procedures with remote medicine.
Technologies for healthy aging:
In general, wearable physical and chemical sensors, hybrid and multi-parameter wearable sensing platforms, and non-wearable sensors can categorize current and upcoming digital monitoring systems.
Wearable physical sensors
The majority of wearable technology on the market today is based on physical sensors that record physical data from the human body longitudinally and continuously over extended periods. These comprise ongoing assessments of the body's temperature, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, and electrocardiogram (ECG).
Physical wearable sensors also use little motion sensors, like accelerometers or gyroscopes, to track movement and other activity-related information, such as steps. These wearables can identify falls or evaluate Parkinson's disease patients' abnormal gait patterns.
Wearable chemical sensors
While smartwatches and other wearables now measure vital signs and movement, significant efforts are being made to develop wearable systems that monitor health metrics at the molecular level.
Hybrid and multi-parameter wearable sensing platforms
Newly created hybrid wearables hold great promise for continuous and thorough healthcare monitoring and for warning older adults and their caregivers of a range of abnormal physiological changes. These wearables simultaneously track chemical biomarkers and physical vital signs (e.g., blood pressure or heart rate) using a single multi-modal epidermal patch.
Wearable chemical sensors get biomarker data by interacting with various biofluids, whereas wearable physical sensors obtain information by coming into direct contact with the skin. As a result, a variety of body-worn flexible form factors are being used for a wide range of healthcare monitoring applications. These factors are made to adapt to the curvature of the skin and other organs.
These sensors can be incorporated into garments, put directly on the skin at various bodily regions, or mounted onto smartwatches, elastic wristbands, rings, skin patches, microneedles, socks, shoes, insoles, and spectacles.
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