Validation of a Wearable Sensor Prototype for Measuring Heart Rate to Prescribe Physical Activity: Cross-Sectional...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Health Informatics
• Wearable Technology

Background:

• Wearable sensors are advancing rapidly, especially in healthcare, enabling continuous physiological monitoring.
• Photoplethysmography (PPG) and long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) technologies are key components in modern wearable health devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and validate a novel wearable sensor prototype for accurate heart rate (HR) measurement.
• To assess the sensor's performance during a functional exercise test using established validation metrics.

Main Methods:

• A transversal exploratory study was conducted with 20 healthy participants (20-30 years old).
• A pulse wearable sensor prototype using PPG and LoRaWAN was developed and tested against a Polar H10 HR chest strap.
• Participants performed the Incremental Shuttle Walk Test for real-time HR data comparison.

Main Results:

• The wearable sensor demonstrated excellent agreement (ICC > 0.9) with the reference device for rest, mean test, and recovery HR.
• Good agreement (ICC = 0.78) was found for maximum HR, with mean absolute percentage errors below 3% across all metrics.
• Large effect sizes (Cohen d > 0.8) indicated significant agreement for baseline, maximum, and recovery HR.

Conclusions:

• The developed pulse-wearable sensor prototype is a valid tool for HR monitoring.
• The sensor accurately measures HR during rest, functional tests, and recovery periods.
• This technology holds promise for remote and continuous physiological monitoring in healthcare settings.