Wearable Ag-NyW textile electrode for continuous ECG monitoring

The diagnosis of unexplained syncope and sustained palpitations remains a challenging task for cardiology community. Continuous monitoring of cardiac activity is essential to know the pumping pattern of the heart for patients with mild and severe symptoms. Although attempts have been made towards developing wearable monitoring system, the demand for new system is still open due to affordability and accessibility to resource constrained settings. This research work proposes a wearable smart jacket with a single lead (Ag-NyW) textile sensor for continuous monitoring of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. The wearable lead-I textile electrodes are evaluated in terms of visual inspection by the clinician, skin-electrode contact impedance characteristics; fidelity measures such as crest factor, signal band to noise band ratio, mean magnitude squared coherence; and ECG interval characteristics. Experimental study was carried with 212 healthy volunteers after due ethical clearance (age group 18–45 years), and RR variability and heart rate variability were assessed for different age groups and BMI levels. The study revealed that the proposed textile electrodes are comparable to disposable (conventional Ag/AgCl gel) electrodes in terms of fidelity measures, skin-contact impedance, and ECG interval measures. The HRV for different age groups and BMI levels were found to be within the limits as reported in the literature. From the current pilot study with Indian population, this cost-effective wearable ECG monitoring system will be helpful for long-term monitoring in resource constrained settings.