A Wireless Wearable Patch for Remote Monitoring of Respiratory and Cardiac Rhythm in Children

Remote patient monitoring (RPM) is an innovative strategy to promote health and improve patient management and care. Recent advances in healthcare technologies have seen the emergence of wearable sensors allowing longitudinal physiological measurements in any environment. This paper introduces a wireless wearable patch 'Leo' for continuous remote monitoring of physiological data at home and healthcare settings. This includes single lead ECG, chest impedance, heart rate (HR), respiration rate (RR) and body posture. To test Leo's ability to capture longitudinal physiological data at home, 15 children experiencing acute severe asthma exacerbations were recruited during their emergency department (ED) visits. Participants wore the Leo device for 7 (+/-2) days post-hospital discharge. Nocturnal RR and HR and variability were higher during the first half of the night on Day1 compared to Day7 (p<0.005). Participants also completed a usability questionnaire and reported the patch wear to be comfortable (average score of 3.3 out of 5) and easy to wear during the night (average score of 3.5 out of 5) with 5/15 (33%) reported very slight barely perceptible skin irritation/redness and 2 (13%) reported well defined skin irritation and redness. Clinical Relevance- These results highlight the potential use of the Leo device in clinical practice for continuous unobstructive monitoring of diseased populations, such as asthma.