Wearable Technologies for Remote Neurologic Health Monitoring

Wearable sensing offers the opportunity to create 21st-century approaches to assessing neurologic function in multiple environments and to augment the examination from the 19th century. Commonly used sensors in neurology include accelerometers, gyroscopes, surface electromyogram, mobile electroencephalogram, electrodermal sensors, and photoplethysmography. These are applied in various form factors to capture physical activity, upper or lower extremity movement, changes in skin conductance, and changes in blood volumes. For sleep monitoring, many types of sensors have been used, but electroencephalogram and photoplethysmography are the most commonly used. Consumer-grade sleep technologies have become very popular and present opportunities for screening, but also present challenges for providers because they have limitations in sensitivity for diagnosis and can increase orthosomnia (sleep-related anxiety). Rich sensor datasets should be rigorously analyzed to create usable, scalar variables for clinical actions, but these new tools need to be ethical and support, not worsen, health care equity.