Soft Wireless Bioelectronics Designed for Real-Time, Continuous Health Monitoring of Farmworkers

Details

• Journal Article:
  Adv Healthc Mater
• Personal Author:
  Kim, Yun-Soung ; Kim, Jihoon ; Chicas, Roxana ; Xiuhtecutli, Nezahualcoyotl ; Matthews, Jared ; Zavanelli, Nathan ; Kwon, Shinjae ; Lee, Sung Hoon ; Hertzberg, Vicki S. ; Yeo, Woon-Hong
• Description:
  Hotter summers caused by global warming and increased workload and duration are endangering the health of farmworkers, a high-risk population for heat-related illness (HRI), and deaths. Although prior studies using wearable sensors show the feasibility of employing field-collected data for HRI monitoring, existing devices still have limitations, such as data loss from motion artifacts, device discomfort from rigid electronics, difficulties with administering ingestible sensors, and low temporal resolution. Here, this paper introduces a wireless, wearable bioelectronic system with functionalities for continuous monitoring of skin temperature, electrocardiograms (ECG), heart rates (HR), and activities, configured in a single integrated package. Advanced nanomanufacturing based on laser machining allows rapid device fabrication and direct incorporation of sensors with a highly breathable substrate, allowing for managing excessive sweating and multimodal stresses. To validate the device's performance in agricultural settings, the device is applied to multiple farmworkers at various operations, including fernery, nursery, and crop. The accurate data recording, including high-fidelity ECG (signal-to-noise ratio: >20 dB), accurate HR (r = 0.89, r| = 0.65 in linear correlation), and reliable temperature/activity, confirms the device's capability for multiparameter health monitoring of farmworkers.
• Subjects:
  Electronics Farmers Farming Heart Rate Hot Temperature Occupational Health Safety Wearable Electronic Devices Wireless Technology
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Health Monitoring Of Farmworkers; Heat-related Illnesses; Micromachining; Soft Electronics; Wireless Systems Farm Workers; Agriculture; Agricultural Workers; Wearable Technologies; Heat Exposure; Outdoor Workers; Emerging Technology; Electronic Equipment; Temperature Measurement; Monitors;
• Source:
  Adv Healthc Mater. 11(13):e2200170
• Pubmed ID:
  35306761
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9262812
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  R01 OH011782/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Georgia ; Louisiana ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  22 pdf pages
• Volume:
  11
• Issue:
  13
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20065454
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2022
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  Emory University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:553f238835e0ef3797b4f243479a43cbb3ee46d528755f78f884511e89160cd44da8fd03502393f742efd3c2ea46b2b66745c47193f89759a5c902671d9f3241
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/119361/cdc_119361_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.72 MB ]