Wearable devices are increasingly being used to help understand and monitor the health of people with chronic conditions.  One of the more innovative of these has recently been developed by researchers at the University of Glasgow.  A recently published paper describes a new flexible, wearable sensor that’s designed to help diabetes patients avoid the discomfort of pin-prick blood tests by monitoring glucose levels from their sweat instead.

The device monitors the sweat of users to hunt out various chemicals, including glucose and urea.  The researchers believe that by monitoring for these, they can accurately diagnose and monitor numerous chronic conditions, including diabetes and kidney disease without requiring any blood to be drawn from patients.

Wearable devices have become increasingly adroit at providing such monitoring, but they require consistent contact with the skin to function properly.  If the devices are made from rigid materials it can make it much harder to ensure consistent contact, whilst such materials can also irritate the skin.  This has often been required however to fit the wireless systems required to transmit data.

Measuring pH levels

The system is designed to measure pH levels whilst contained in a material that can stretch and flex to the contours of our bodies.  It’s made using a graphite-polyurethane composite.

The data is then sent to a smartphone app, called SenseAble, via the same kind of near-field communication technology used in smartphone payment systems like ApplePay.  The app then allows the user to monitor their pH levels in real-time.

“Human sweat contains much of the same physiological information that blood does, and its use in diagnostic systems has the significant advantage of not needing to break the skin in order to administer tests,” the researchers say.  “Now that we’ve demonstrated that our stretchable system can be used to monitor pH levels, we’ve already begun additional research to expand the capabilities of the sensor and make it a more complete diagnostic system. We’re planning to add sensors capable of measuring glucose, ammonia and urea, for example, and ultimately we’d like to see a system ready for market in the next few years.”