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Updated: May 24, 2025
A Community-based Stress Management Program: Using Wearable Devices to Assess Whole Body Physiological Responses in Non-laboratory Settings
Published on: January 22, 2018
Capturing Physiological Correlates of Stress-Induced Blood Pressure Elevation Using a Multimodal Wearable Sensing
Insights
A wearable patch can monitor physiological signs of stress-induced hypertension in individuals with prior myocardial infarction (MI). This technology shows potential for cardiovascular risk stratification using low-burden devices.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular physiology
- Biomedical engineering
- Wearable technology
Background:
- Individuals with a history of myocardial infarction (MI) face elevated risks of secondary cardiovascular events.
- Stress-induced hypertension is a significant risk factor, but monitoring is challenging due to device limitations and unproven accuracy in high-risk groups.
- Novel, unobtrusive methods are needed to assess cardiovascular responses to stress in post-MI patients.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the utility of a multimodal wearable patch in capturing physiological indicators of laboratory-induced hypertensive stress responses.
- To assess the correlation between wearable sensor data and changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) during a controlled stressor.
- To evaluate the potential of wearable technology for monitoring cardiovascular risk in post-MI populations.
Main Methods:
- A pilot study involved 35 participants (26 post-MI, 9 healthy) using a validated wearable patch.
- The patch collected electrocardiogram, seismocardiogram, and photoplethysmogram signals during a public speaking stress test.
- Physiological features from the patch were correlated with stress-induced changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) measured by a brachial cuff.
Main Results:
- Significant correlations were found between MAP changes and wearable-derived features: heart rate (r=0.69), left ventricular ejection time (r=-0.63), pulse arrival time (r=-0.58), and pulse transit time (r=-0.56).
- These findings suggest the patch can detect physiological correlates of stress-induced hypertension.
- Moderate dose-response effect sizes indicate the potential for this technology in monitoring stress-related cardiovascular changes.
Conclusions:
- A multimodal wearable patch shows promise for capturing physiological correlates of stress-induced hypertension.
- This technology could aid in cardiovascular risk stratification for high-risk populations, such as post-MI patients.
- Further research with larger cohorts is warranted to validate and refine the use of these low-burden technologies for clinical applications.
Abstract:
Persons who have experienced a prior myocardial infarction (MI) are at a greater risk of experiencing a secondary event. External factors, such as stress, can cause transient hypertension, further increasing cardiovascular disease risk. However, challenges to monitoring stress-induced hypertension include obtrusiveness of monitoring devices, unknown validity in high-risk populations, and unsubstantiated sensitivity in stressful environments. In this pilot study, we investigated data from a validated, multimodal, wearable patch to examine physiological correlates of laboratory-based hypertensive stress responses. The device collected electrocardiogram, seismocardiogram, and photoplethysmogram signals from 35 participants (26 post-MI and 9 healthy participants) during a protocol involving a public speaking stressor. We calculated the change from rest to stress in 10 features extracted from these signals and assessed their correlation to stress-induced changes in mean arterial pressure (MAP) derived from a validated brachial pressure cuff. MAP changes correlated significantly with changes in heart rate (p<0.001, r=0.69), left ventricular ejection time (p<0.001, r=-0.63), pulse arrival time (p<0.001, r=-0.58), and pulse transit time (p<0.001, r=-0.56) captured by the patch.Clinical relevance- We demonstrate the potential of a multimodal patch to capture multiple physiological correlates of stress-induced hypertension with moderate dose-response effect sizes. Future work with larger populations could combine these physiological correlates for the purpose of cardiovascular risk stratification using low-burden technologies.
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