Development and validation of an integrated wearable system for continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring using photoplethysmography and optical respiratory detection
- 1Program of Biomedical Engineering, Antonio Nariño University, Popayán, Colombia
- 2Doctoral Program in Applied Sciences, Antonio Nariño University, Bogotá DC, Colombia
- 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, São Carlos School of Engineering, University of São Paulo (USP), São Carlos, Brazil
Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with ischaemic heart disease the leading contributor and acute myocardial infarction accounting for the majority of ischaemic heart disease deaths. This study presents the development and technical validation of a low-cost, integrated wearable system for multi-parameter cardiorespiratory monitoring designed to support heart-attack detection algorithms. The system comprises two devices: a wristband incorporating a MAX30105 photoplethysmography sensor for cardiac pulse-wave and SpO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}2\end{document} acquisition, and a chest band featuring novel optical respiratory detection and an MPU6050 inertial measurement unit for respiratory rate and movement monitoring. Both devices use ESP32-C3 microcontrollers with Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity to a custom mobile application enabling real-time visualization and cloud-based storage. Validation was conducted against clinical-grade reference equipment (ADInstruments physiograph and EDAN iM8 monitor) in 43 healthy volunteers, yielding 50 acquisitions: 30 at rest and 20 post-physical activity. This is a technical feasibility study in healthy young volunteers; validation in clinical populations remains future work. Heart rate showed the closest agreement with the reference (percentage error ±1.94%, r=0.99 post-activity; limits of agreement -6.21 to 4.21 BPM), followed by respiratory rate (±3.47%, r=0.99). SpO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}2\end{document} error remained within tolerance (1.64% at rest, 2.98% post-activity) but showed weak correlation with the reference owing to range restriction in a healthy cohort, and is not yet suitable for applications requiring absolute saturation values. This study demonstrates that a low-cost, multi-sensor wearable system can achieve accuracy meeting the prespecified feasibility criterion (<± 5% error) in a healthy young cohort, establishing technical feasibility as a prerequisite to validation in the cardiovascular patient populations for which the system is ultimately intended.
Graphical abstract:
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-026-03677-y.
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BibTeX
@article{ramirez2026development,
title = {{Development and validation of an integrated wearable system for continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring using photoplethysmography and optical respiratory detection}},
author = {Jesús David Ramírez and Nathalia Toro and Juan Manuel Campo and Guido Gómez-Peña and Julián Antonio Villamarín-Muñoz and Jaime A. Mosquera-Sánchez},
journal = {Medical \& Biological Engineering \& Computing},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1007/s11517-026-03677-y},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-026-03677-y},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Development and validation of an integrated wearable system for continuous cardiorespiratory monitoring using photoplethysmography and optical respiratory detection
AU - Jesús David Ramírez
AU - Nathalia Toro
AU - Juan Manuel Campo
AU - Guido Gómez-Peña
AU - Julián Antonio Villamarín-Muñoz
AU - Jaime A. Mosquera-Sánchez
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
JO - Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing
DO - 10.1007/s11517-026-03677-y
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-026-03677-y
AB - Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality worldwide, with ischaemic heart disease the leading contributor and acute myocardial infarction accounting for the majority of ischaemic heart disease deaths. This study presents the development and technical validation of a low-cost, integrated wearable system for multi-parameter cardiorespiratory monitoring designed to support heart-attack detection algorithms. The system comprises two devices: a wristband incorporating a MAX30105 photoplethysmography sensor for cardiac pulse-wave and SpO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}_2\end{document} acquisition, and a chest band featuring novel optical respiratory detection and an MPU6050 inertial measurement unit for respiratory rate and movement monitoring. Both devices use ESP32-C3 microcontrollers with Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity to a custom mobile application enabling real-time visualization and cloud-based storage. Validation was conducted against clinical-grade reference equipment (ADInstruments physiograph and EDAN iM8 monitor) in 43 healthy volunteers, yielding 50 acquisitions: 30 at rest and 20 post-physical activity. This is a technical feasibility study in healthy young volunteers; validation in clinical populations remains future work. Heart rate showed the closest agreement with the reference (percentage error ±1.94%, r=0.99 post-activity; limits of agreement -6.21 to 4.21 BPM), followed by respiratory rate (±3.47%, r=0.99). SpO\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}_2\end{document} error remained within tolerance (1.64% at rest, 2.98% post-activity) but showed weak correlation with the reference owing to range restriction in a healthy cohort, and is not yet suitable for applications requiring absolute saturation values. This study demonstrates that a low-cost, multi-sensor wearable system can achieve accuracy meeting the prespecified feasibility criterion (<± 5% error) in a healthy young cohort, establishing technical feasibility as a prerequisite to validation in the cardiovascular patient populations for which the system is ultimately intended. Graphical abstract: Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-026-03677-y.
SN - 0140-0118
SN - 1741-0444
ER -