Smart Patch for Skin Temperature: Preliminary Study to Evaluate Psychometrics and Feasibility

Abstract

There is a need for continuous, non-invasive monitoring of biological data to assess health and wellbeing. Currently, many types of smart patches have been developed to continuously monitor body temperature, but few trials have been completed to evaluate psychometrics and feasibility for human subjects in real-life scenarios. The aim of this feasibility study was to evaluate the reliability, validity and usability of a smart patch measuring body temperature in healthy adults. The smart patch consisted of a fully integrated wearable wireless sensor with a multichannel temperature sensor, signal processing integrated circuit, wireless communication feature and a flexible battery. Thirty-five healthy adults were recruited for this test, carried out by wearing the patches on their upper chests for 24 h and checking their body temperature six times a day using infrared forehead thermometers as a gold standard for testing validity. Descriptive statistics, one-sampled and independent t-tests, Pearson’s correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plot were examined for body temperatures between two measures. In addition, multiple linear regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and qualitative content analysis were conducted. Among the 35 participants, 29 of them wore the patch for over 19 h (dropout rate: 17.14%). Mean body temperature measured by infrared forehead thermometers and smart patch ranged between 32.53 and 38.2 °C per person and were moderately correlated (r = 0.23–0.43) overall. Based on a Bland-Altman plot, approximately 94% of the measurements were located within one standard deviation (upper limit = 4.52, lower limit = −5.82). Most outliers were identified on the first measurement and were located below the lower limit. It is appropriate to use 37.5 °C in infrared forehead temperature as a cutoff to define febrile conditions. Users’ position while checking and ambient temperature and humidity are not affected to the smart patch body temperature. Overall, the participants showed high usability and satisfaction on the survey. Few participants reported discomfort due to limited daily activity, itchy skin or detaching concerns. In conclusion, epidermal electronic sensor technologies provide a promising method for continuously monitoring individuals’ body temperatures, even in real-life situations. Our study findings show the potential for smart patches to monitoring non-febrile condition in the community.

An Overview of the Implications for Perianesthesia Nurses in terms of Intraoperative Changes in Temperature and Factors Associated with Unintentional Postoperative Hypothermia

“…Despite the fact that dermal thermo-reading remain significantly lesser in comparison to CT-readings, with increased vulnerability to environmental temperatures, these strips will offer a good approximation of CTs when regulated with a proper off-set (0.5uC in conscious individuals, 1uC in drowsy/anesthetized individuals) [ 28 ]. 19 When temperature fluctuations are more severe, for as during MH, liquid-crystal thermal-strips prove ineffective for noticing temperature rises within porcine models [ 29 ]. Such detectors were un-evaluated in people regarding this role, consequently not being recommended for human MH determination [ 30 ] .…”

PANI-Based Wearable Electrochemical Sensor for pH Sweat Monitoring

“…In recent years, wearable sensors (WS), able to test body fluids such as blood, urine, saliva, tears and sweat, have recorded a rapid diffusion, due to their low-cost technology [1][2][3][4][5] and the capability of continuously measuring changes in physiological parameters in real time [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. For monitoring health conditions, it is possible to analyze the analytes contained in different body fluids, especially in sweat, since it is very easy to collect and allows easy measurement of biomarkers.…”

Flexible PCB Failures From Dynamic Activity and Their Impacts on Bioimpedance Measurements: A Wearable Case Study

“…• Epidermal temperature monitoring in real-life conditions with a custom solution developed in-lab using an integrated circuit on a flexible PCB that contacted the skin surface through a stretchable patch [9]; • In vivo gastrointestinal mapping using a flexible printed circuit array of 32 electrodes interfaced to a rigid PCB [10]; • Gesture recognition using a flexible electrode array fixed to the forearm (with hydrogel electrodes) for electromyography measurements [11]; • Wrist and arm-wearable displays with flexible OLED panels, flexible circuit boards, and flexible batteries [12]. Further details on flexible circuits for healthcare monitoring applications for interested readers are available in the recent reviews by Chung et al [13] and Salim and Lim [14].…”

“…Flex PCBs have been investigated for a range of wearable applications, a small subset of which includes: Epidermal temperature monitoring in real-life conditions with a custom solution developed in-lab using an integrated circuit on a flexible PCB that contacted the skin surface through a stretchable patch [ 9 ]; In vivo gastrointestinal mapping using a flexible printed circuit array of 32 electrodes interfaced to a rigid PCB [ 10 ]; Gesture recognition using a flexible electrode array fixed to the forearm (with hydrogel electrodes) for electromyography measurements [ 11 ]; Wrist and arm-wearable displays with flexible OLED panels, flexible circuit boards, and flexible batteries [ 12 ]. …”

“…Epidermal temperature monitoring in real-life conditions with a custom solution developed in-lab using an integrated circuit on a flexible PCB that contacted the skin surface through a stretchable patch [ 9 ];…”