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Could Wearables Redefine Diagnostics?
Advances in biosensors and manufacturing could bring continuous molecular monitoring into routine care, but clinical validation remains a major challenge
Review developments in wearable diagnostic systems and assess their potential applications and barriers to clinical use.
Approach:
Scope: The review examines skin patches, smart contact lenses, and electronic textiles that monitor molecular biomarkers and physiological signals.
Technology: It discusses biosensors, flexible-device manufacturing, integrated data processing and wireless communication, and AI-based interpretation.
Key Findings:
Wearables can continuously measure biomarkers in sweat, tears, or saliva, as well as signals such as electrical activity, movement, and cardiovascular function.
Potential applications span diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, cancer, and inflammatory conditions; continuous glucose monitoring is cited as an established example.
AI could identify patterns across measurements and deviations from an individual's usual physiological state.
Reliability may be affected by prolonged use, movement, environmental conditions, and individual differences.
Many wearable technologies have not been adequately compared with established diagnostic methods, and analytical sensitivity alone does not establish clinical equivalence.
Interpretation:
The authors describe wearable diagnostics as potential complements to conventional testing, not replacements. They identify standardized validation, reliable long-term performance, and regulatory oversight as necessary for clinical translation.
Limitations:
Sensor performance may deteriorate during prolonged use.
Movement, environmental conditions, and individual differences can affect measurement reliability.
The clinical meaning of biomarker concentrations in sweat and other fluids requires further investigation.
Many technologies lack adequate comparison with established diagnostic methods.
Conclusion:
The review concludes that wearable diagnostics require further validation and oversight before broad clinical adoption.
