Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. In Portugal, for example, cardiovascular diseases are responsible for 29.5% of deaths. Wearable devices for personal data collection can contribute to fight against these numbers. Multiple wearable devices for cardiovascular self-monitoring have been proposed over the years, namely smartwatches, which are already approved medical devices and can be used on lead electrocardiography (ECG) diagnosis.
Hugo Silva, professor at IST’s Department of Bioengineering (DBE) and researcher at Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT), has been working in the area of pervasive monitoring of biomedical signals and is well aware of the advantages of these devices. The Técnico professor co-authors the article titled “Design and evaluation of a novel approach to invisible electrocardiography (ECG) in sanitary facilities using polymeric electrodes”, published in Scientific Reports.
The Técnico professor highlights “this work results from more than a decade of research carried out at IT’s Pattern and Image Analysis (PIA) group, under the coordination of professor Ana Fred, which aims to enable pervasive monitoring of biomedical signals, through sensors embedded in everyday objects and without changing the user’s regular patterns of interaction”.
Although wearables represent a significant progress in the field of ECG recording, they have some limitations, such as the need for a voluntary action so that the ECG trace can be taken and the battery lifetime. The work developed by Hugo Silva’s team “allows to analyse the user’s biomedical signals as a true extension of his/her everyday activities”, he explains. “These devices offer tremendous potential benefits to their users, since the signal registration is done completely automatically and the sensors can be embedded in a wide variety of objects”, adds the DBE professor.
In the article recently published, the team studied “a very specific problem related to embedded sensors on a toilet seat, which is an essential object in our daily lives”, highlights professor Hugo Silva. “There is a very small number of similar works worldwide. We propose an industry-oriented approach compatible with current industrial processes”, he adds.
According to professor Hugo Siva “this is an excellent example of collaboration and knowledge transfer between academia and industry, since the work is carried out in partnership with OLI, S.A., a global bath solutions brand”.
The authors of the article propose a new model of sensors and polymeric electrodes. A new sensor design was proposed, novel materials have been explored, and a proof-of-concept data collection system was created in the form of a toilet seat, enabling ECG measurements as an extension of the regular use of sanitary facilities, without requiring body-worn devices. In order to evaluate the proposed approach, measurements were performed in 10 healthy subjects using this system.
The previous research and the team’s experience, in particular the SmartHeart project , turned out to be a good starting point for these results which, according to the Técnico professor, “were indeed very positive and encouraging”.
This work represents an important prior step to demonstrate the feasibility of ECG data acquisition on the thighs. Professor Hugo Silva recalls that conceptually this may seem like a simple problem, but “it is indeed an important step, in particular because it presents industrially scalable solutions. The polymeric electrodes establish the connection between the sensor and the subject, thus representing a critical component of the system. Furthermore, we were able to study other issues related to ergonomics, comfort, production”, says the IT researcher.
“We have received very positive reviews from the beginning. We also received a suggestion to include a comparative analysis between our approach and other state-of-the-art systems, but we ended up highlighting the absence of such comparative analysis, which was recognised by the reviewers, thus reinforcing this groundbreaking device”, says the Técnico professor.
The potential of these devices on preventive health care
According to the Técnico professor, “this type of devices can play an important role in the field of preventive health care, especially when combined with robust methods for automated analysis of large volumes of data, such as those provided by recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence. It is important to emphasize that classical approaches are irreplaceable, and will always be included in the diagnosis process. However, they may appear too late in the progress of the disease”.
The potential of these devices is even greater as it allows to collect large amounts of data, more frequently, and ultimately without a direct involvement of the subject. In addition, and as the researcher says “these devices have shown their effectiveness in the detection of pathologies that would otherwise be unnoticed through standard routine exams and there is also a growing need for telemedicine solutions”.
