Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Dec 13, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 11, 2021
Feasibility of a Waistband-type Wireless Wearable Electrocardiogram Monitoring System based on a Textile Electrode
ABSTRACT
Background:
Electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring in daily life is essential for effective management of cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death. Wearable ECG measurement systems in the form of clothing have been proposed to replace Holter monitors used for clinical ECG monitoring, however, they have limitations in daily use because they compress the upper body, and in doing so, cause discomfort during wearing.
Objective:
The purpose of this study was to develop a wireless wearable ECG monitoring system including a textile ECG electrode that can be applied to the lining of pants and can be used in the same way as existing clothing wearing styles without compression on the upper body.
Methods:
A textile electrode having stretchable characteristics was fabricated by knitting a conductive yarn with polyester-polyurethane fiber and then silver compound coated, and an ECG electrode was developed by placing it on an elastic band in a modified limb lead configuration. In addition, a system with analog-to-digital conversion and wireless communication, and a smart phone application were developed allowing users to be able to check and store their own ECG in real time. A signal processing algorithm was also developed to remove noise from the obtained signal and to calculate the heart rate. For evaluation of ECG and heart rate measurement performance of the developed module, a comparative evaluation with a commercial device was performed. ECG was measured for five minutes each, in standing, sitting, and lying positions, and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of heart rates measured with both systems was compared.
Results:
The system was developed in the form of a belt buckle with a size of 53×45×12 mm (width × height × depth) and a weight of 23 g. In qualitative evaluation, it was confirmed that the representative waveform of the ECG was clearly observed. From the results of the heart rate estimation, the developed system could track changes in heart rate calculated by a commercial ECG measuring device, and the RMSE of heart rate was 2.5 bpm, 3.3 bpm, and 2.6 bpm in standing, sitting, and lying positions, respectively.
Conclusions:
The developed system was able to effectively measure the ECG and calculate the heart rate through simply wearing as existing clothing without upper body pressure. It is expected that general usability can be secured through evaluation under more diverse conditions. Clinical Trial: 1040198-200609-HR-061-02
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