Wearable sensors have gained increasing attention over the past decade because of their ability to monitor a broad range of biological markers in a non-intrusive and continuous manner. These sensors are used to gather physiological data, enabling patient status monitoring. Moreover, the demand for wearable sensors has increased during the COVID-19 outbreak. The healthcare industry is harnessing/leveraging digital infrastructure for remote patient monitoring. The need for more robust disease detection and monitoring has been met by wearable sensors.
Wearable devices, which allow continuous monitoring of physiological signs, can be used in the early detection of presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. Thus, with the increasing prevalence of COVID-19, the demand for wearable devices is also increasing at a rapid pace. For example, in Germany, the Robert Koch Institute supported the adoption of smartwatches or fitness trackers to understand how much of the population is clinically symptomatic. This in turn is expected to increase the demand for wearable sensors.
Moreover, the increasing trend towards smaller, smarter, and cheaper sensors, miniaturization trend in sensors, the advent of IoT, AR, and M2M, and mounting benefits of wearable devices in the healthcare sector has increased the demand for wearable sensors. For example, in May 2020, Royal Philips received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its wearable biosensor, Philips Biosensor BX100, to help manage confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients in the hospital.
Wearable sensors are implemented in wearable devices to track or collect health warning signs such as body temperature, room temperature, heart rate, stress level, heart pressure, blood pressure, movements, etc. They are widely used in smartwatches, fitness watches, body-wear, virtual reality headsets, smart shoes, sleep masks, eyewear, etc. In short, wearable sensors are integrated into wearables or directly with the body to help provide clinically relevant data for health monitoring and/or care. Thus, there is an increasing demand for wearables worldwide.