Key result
Wrist-worn wearables primarily monitor chronic diseases by tracking heart rate, blood pressure, and SpO2.
Why the study?
A comprehensive analysis of wearables across various chronic diseases helps to standardize remote patient monitoring systems.
Systematic Review (n=61)
Wearable devices, primarily wristbands equipped with accelerometers and PPG sensors, are widely used to remotely monitor vital signs and activity in patients with chronic diseases, particularly neurological and cardiovascular conditions.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Wrist-worn bands enable remote vital-sign monitoring in chronic cardiovascular and neurological disease; confirms their predominance across 39 of 61 reviewed studies.
BACKGROUND Wearable devices enable the remote collection of health parameters, supporting the outpatient plans recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to manage chronic diseases. While disease-specific monitoring is accurate, a comprehensive analysis of wearables across various chronic diseases helps to standardize remote patient monitoring (RPM) systems. OBJECTIVE This review aims to identify wearables for remote monitoring of chronic diseases, focusing on (i) wearable devices, (ii) sensor types, (iii) health parameters, (iv) body locations, and (v) medical applications. METHODS We develop a search strategy and conduct searches across three databases: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. After reviewing 1,160 articles, we select 61 that address cardiovascular, cancer, neurological, metabolic, respiratory, and other diseases. We create a data analysis method based on our five objectives to organize the articles for a comprehensive analysis. RESULTS From the 61 articles, 39 use wearable bands such as smartwatches, wristbands, armbands, and straps to monitor chronic diseases. Wearable devices commonly include various sensor types, such as accelerometers (39/61), photoplethysmographic (PPG) sensors (18/61), biopotential meters (17/61), pressure meters (11/61), and thermometers (9/61). These sensors collect diverse health parameters, such as acceleration (39/61), heart rate (24/61), body temperature (9/61), blood pressure (8/61), and peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO₂) (7/61). Common sensor body locations are the wrist, followed by the upper arm, and the chest. The medical applications of wearable devices are neurological (21/61) and cardiovascular diseases (15/61). Additionally, researchers apply wearable devices for wellness and lifestyle monitoring (39/61), mostly activity (39/39) and sleep (10/39). CONCLUSIONS This review underscores that wearable devices primarily function as bands, commonly worn on the wrist, to monitor chronic diseases. These devices collect acceleration, heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and SpO₂, focusing on neurological disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Our findings establish a baseline for identifying health parameters remotely collected by wearables across various chronic diseases, providing insights for standardizing RPM systems.
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Tegegne et al. (2025) conducted a systematic review in Chronic diseases (n=61). Wearable devices was evaluated on Wearable devices, sensor types, health parameters, body locations, and medical applications. Wearable devices primarily function as bands worn on the wrist to monitor chronic diseases, commonly collecting acceleration, heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and SpO2.
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