Clinical evaluation of stretchable and wearable inkjet-printed strain gauge sensor for respiratory rate monitoring at different measurements locations

Abstract

Introduction: The respiration rate (RR) is a vital sign in physiological measurement and clinical diagnosis. RR can be measured using stretchable and wearable strain gauge sensors which detect the respiratory movements in the abdomen or thorax areas caused by volumetric changes. In different body locations, the accuracy of RR detection might differ due to different respiratory movement amplitudes. Few studies have quantitatively investigated the effect of the measurement location on the accuracy of new sensors in RR detection.Methods: Using a stretchable and wearable inkjet-printed strain gauge (IPSG) sensor, RR was measured from five body locations (umbilicus, upper abdomen, xiphoid process, upper thorax, and diagonal) on thirty healthy test subjects while sitting on an armless chair. At each location, reference RR was simultaneously detected by the e-Health sensor, and the measurement was repeated twice. Subjects were asked about the comfortableness of locations. Based on Levene's test, ANOVA was performed to investigate if there is a significant difference in RR between sensors, measurement locations, and two repeated measurements. Bland-Altman analysis was applied to the RR measurements at different locations. The effects of measurement site and measurement trials on RR difference between sensors were also investigated.Results: There was no significant difference between IPSG and reference sensors, between any locations, and between the two measurements (all p>0.05). As to the RR deviation between IPSG and reference sensors, there was no significant difference between any locations, or between two measurements (all p>0.05). All the thirty subjects agreed that diagonal and upper thorax positions were the most uncomfortable and most comfortable locations for measurement, respectively. Conclusion:The IPSG sensor could accurately detect RR at five different locations with good repeatability. Upper thorax was the most comfortable location.

Embedded Electronic Sensor for Monitoring of Breathing Activity, Fitting and Filter Clogging in Reusable Industrial Respirators

“…The chest movements during breathing produce changes of capacitance in the thorax cycle that can be measured using impedance measurement systems [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. Other devices estimate the mechanical oscillations of the thorax during breathing using inertial sensors, strain gauges, inductance plethysmography, or flexible resistive bands [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. In general, the systems are accurate and can perform breathing monitoring correctly.…”

Clinical Evaluation of Respiratory Rate Measurements on COPD (Male) Patients Using Wearable Inkjet-Printed Sensor

“…Al-Halhouli et al [ 16 ] have presented the development of stretchable and wearable strain gauge sensor using inkjet printing technology for RR monitoring. The accuracy and performance of the developed sensor have been validated on healthy subjects at different body locations [ 41 ] and at different body postures [ 17 ]. They concluded that the inkjet-printed (IJPT) sensor was accurate and had a good potential for monitoring RR on non-healthy patients such as COPD patients.…”