• 1. School of Biological Sciences and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, P. R. China;
  • 2. Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, P. R. China;
  • 3. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center / Harvard Medical School, Boston 02215, USA;
  • 4. Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Medical Innovation Research Department, PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, P. R. China;
  • 5. Aviation Medical Engineering Research Center, Air Force Medical Center, Beijing 100142, P. R. China;
PENG Chung-Kang, Email: ckpeng@seu.edu.cn
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This review article aims to explore the major challenges that the healthcare system is currently facing and propose a new paradigm shift that harnesses the potential of wearable devices and novel theoretical frameworks on health and disease. Lifestyle-induced diseases currently account for a significant portion of all healthcare spending, with this proportion projected to increase with population aging. Wearable devices have emerged as a key technology for implementing large-scale healthcare systems focused on disease prevention and management. Advancements in miniaturized sensors, system integration, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 5G, and other technologies have enabled wearable devices to perform high-quality measurements comparable to medical devices. Through various physical, chemical, and biological sensors, wearable devices can continuously monitor physiological status information in a non-invasive or minimally invasive way, including electrocardiography, electroencephalography, respiration, blood oxygen, blood pressure, blood glucose, activity, and more. Furthermore, by combining concepts and methods from complex systems and nonlinear dynamics, we developed a novel theory of continuous dynamic physiological signal analysis—dynamical complexity. The results of dynamic signal analyses can provide crucial information for disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and management. Wearable devices can also serve as an important bridge connecting doctors and patients by tracking, storing, and sharing patient data with medical institutions, enabling remote or real-time health assessments of patients, and providing a basis for precision medicine and personalized treatment. Wearable devices have a promising future in the healthcare field and will be an important driving force for the transformation of the healthcare system, while also improving the health experience for individuals.

Citation: PENG Chung-Kang, CUI Xingran, ZHANG Zhengbo, YU Mengsun. Wearable devices: Perspectives on assessing and monitoring human physiological status. Journal of Biomedical Engineering, 2023, 40(6): 1045-1052. doi: 10.7507/1001-5515.202303043 Copy

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