Telemonitoring Techniques for Lung Volume Measurement: Accuracy, Artifacts and Effort

Continuous Critical Respiratory Parameter Measurements Using a Single Low-Cost Relative Humidity Sensor: Evaluation Study

BACKGROUND

Accurate and portable respiratory parameter measurements are critical for properly managing chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPDs) such as asthma or sleep apnea, as well as controlling ventilation for patients in intensive care units, during surgical procedures, or when using a positive airway pressure device for sleep apnea.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this research is to develop a new nonprescription portable measurement device that utilizes relative humidity sensors (RHS) to accurately measure key respiratory parameters at a cost that is approximately 10 times less than the industry standard.

METHODS

We present the development, implementation, and assessment of a wearable respiratory measurement device using the commercial Bosch BME280 RHS. In the initial stage, the RHS was connected to the pneumotach (PNT) gold standard device via its external connector to gather breathing metrics. Data collection was facilitated using the Arduino platform with a Bluetooth Low Energy connection, and all measurements were taken in real time without any additional data processing. The device's efficacy was tested with 7 participants (5 men and 2 women), all in good health. In the subsequent phase, we specifically focused on comparing breathing cycle and respiratory rate measurements and determining the tidal volume by calculating the region between inhalation and exhalation peaks. Each participant's data were recorded over a span of 15 minutes. After the experiment, detailed statistical analysis was conducted using ANOVA and Bland-Altman to examine the accuracy and efficiency of our wearable device compared with the traditional methods.

RESULTS

The perfused air measured with the respiratory monitor enables clinicians to evaluate the absolute value of the tidal volume during ventilation of a patient. In contrast, directly connecting our RHS device to the surgical mask facilitates continuous lung volume monitoring. The results of the 1-way ANOVA showed high P values of .68 for respiratory volume and .89 for respiratory rate, which indicate that the group averages with the PNT standard are equivalent to those with our RHS platform, within the error margins of a typical instrument. Furthermore, analysis utilizing the Bland-Altman statistical method revealed a small bias of 0.03 with limits of agreement (LoAs) of -0.25 and 0.33. The RR bias was 0.018, and the LoAs were -1.89 and 1.89.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the encouraging results, we conclude that our proposed design can be a viable, low-cost wearable medical device for pulmonary parametric measurement to prevent and predict the progression of pulmonary diseases. We believe that this will encourage the research community to investigate the application of RHS for monitoring the pulmonary health of individuals.

Cardiorespiratory Assessments in Panic Disorder Facilitated by Wearable Devices: A Systematic Review and Brief Comparison of the Wearable Zephyr BioPatch with the Quark-b2 Stationary Testing System

Abnormalities in cardiorespiratory measurements have repeatedly been found in patients with panic disorder (PD) during laboratory-based assessments. However, recordings performed outside laboratory settings are required to test the ecological validity of these findings. Wearable devices, such as sensor-imbedded garments, biopatches, and smartwatches, are promising tools for this purpose. We systematically reviewed the evidence for wearables-based cardiorespiratory assessments in PD by searching for publications on the PubMed, PsycINFO, and Embase databases, from inception to 30 July 2022. After the screening of two-hundred and twenty records, eight studies were included. The limited number of available studies and critical aspects related to the uncertain reliability of wearables-based assessments, especially concerning respiration, prevented us from drawing conclusions about the cardiorespiratory function of patients with PD in daily life. We also present preliminary data on a pilot study conducted on volunteers at the Villa San Benedetto Menni Hospital for evaluating the accuracy of heart rate (HR) and breathing rate (BR) measurements by the wearable Zephyr BioPatch compared with the Quark-b2 stationary testing system. Our exploratory results suggested possible BR and HR misestimation by the wearable Zephyr BioPatch compared with the Quark-b2 system. Challenges of wearables-based cardiorespiratory assessment and possible solutions to improve their reliability and optimize their significant potential for the study of PD pathophysiology are presented.