Wearable Technologies and Physiological Assessment

Wearable technologies are electronic devices worn on the body with the capacity of detecting, analyzing, and transmitting information regarding body metrics. These devices are becoming ubiquitous and have the potential of significantly impacting digital health. Wearable technologies generally return acceptable measures in controlled and laboratory settings, but do not perform similarly in free-living or practical conditions. There may be serious consequences for both patients and practitioners.

Physiological measures and vital signs are commonly obtained in health care settings and provide valuable information about patient status. Measures include blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, pulse oximetry and many more. These parameters may provide information regarding underlying disease or disability or allow practitioners insight into responses to therapeutic interventions. As wearable technologies returning these measures become more widespread the need to evaluate use cases, accuracy, and integration in digital health is paramount.

This Research Topic focuses on wearable devices and applications related to physiological assessment. Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
• Accuracy and reliability
• Integration into telehealth and clinical trials
• Considerations with behavior modification
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion with the use of wearables
• Use in free-living conditions
• Performance in different environmental conditions
• Integration with wellness and health insurance programs
• Environmental health

Keywords: Digital Health, Wearable technology, physiological measures, telehealth, environmental health

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.