Survey on Applications of Wearable Technology for Healthcare

Introduction

As a consequence of the increase in the stress levels due to various reasons, human beings have been severely affected by various health issues. As a response, research on the wearable technology has picked up pace within the research community since, the wearable devices aid in obtaining critical updates regarding the physical health behaviour, including heart rate, blood pressure, calories, etc. As per various existing sources, the wearable technology market has grown from approximately 22 billion dollars in 2018 to approximately 35 billion dollars in 2021. This trend is most likely to continue with a surge in the wearable technology market, reaching approximately 55 billion dollars in 2023. Thus, the global data forecast suggests a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of approximately 20% by 2023. The aforementioned is possible since, the wearable devices are being adopted over a wide range of fields with a larger healthcare sector potential. The wearable devices also address changing costs of healthcare, varying populations, and the chronic diseases burden. Also, in the current scenario, the wearable technology is almost exclusively being used for fitness purposes. It is being steered by an increase in the consumers’ demands to monitor the personal health. The applications of wearable technologies in healthcare, known to be non-invasive, use autonomous devices capable of capturing, analysing, and aggregating the physiological data to improve health. The research community has put forth that the various wearable technologies with advanced smart Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods could aid in the understanding of health updates and the related outcomes. Further, using AI and wearable technology may also aid in health insurance by covering various risks which are associated with multiple uncertainties related to health, enhanced span of life, and the treatments’ high cost. The use of wearable technology with augmented reality (AR), Big Data, AI, cloud and edge computing methods, simultaneously with the constant lowering of the sensors’ prices, open-source application programming interfaces (APIs), frameworks, and libraries, enables faster and cost-efficient solutions within the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Everything (IoE) ecosystem. However, advancements in the wearable device(s) technology is both, a challenge and an opportunity for researchers.

With recent advancements in the wearable technology, value addition is being provided in healthcare with a major focus on the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, and prevention while providing the entire healthcare value chain with benefits including personalization, early diagnosis, remote patient monitoring, adherence to medication, information libraries, and better decision making, simultaneously minimizing the healthcare costs. Besides, the growing demands and functionality have also directed insurers and companies' attention to supply the wearable health technology to the consumers and employees for wide-ranging benefits. Few applications of the wearable technology are designed to prevent diseases and maintain health. These applications include, the monitoring of physical activities and control of weight. Further, wearable devices are also being used to manage both, diseases and patients. On the other hand, such wearable applications can seriously have an impact on the clinical decision-making. They could also improve the quality of patient care, simultaneously minimizing the overall cost incurred in the care, such as rehabilitation of any patient outside the hospitals' premises. However, majority of the wearable technologies and hence, their applications currently stand at the prototype stage. Also, the major issues in the wearable technology, such as consumer acceptance, security, and ethics, are yet to be addressed for enhancing their usability and functioning of these devices for practical usage. Overall, wearable technologies and their applications are foreseen as innovative solutions for various healthcare problems.