Engineering Approaches to Assessing Hydration Status

Abstract

Dehydration is a common condition characterized by a decrease in total body water. Acute dehydration can cause physical and cognitive impairment, heat stroke and exhaustion, and, if severe and uncorrected, even death. The health effects of chronic mild dehydration are less well studied with urolithiasis (kidney stones) the only condition consistently associated with it. Aside from infants and those with particular medical conditions, athletes, military personnel, manual workers, and older adults are at particular risk of dehydration due to their physical activity, environmental exposure, and/or challenges in maintaining fluid homeostasis. This review describes the different approaches that have been explored for hydration assessment in adults. These include clinical indicators perceived by the patient or detected by a practitioner and routine laboratory analyses of blood and urine. These techniques have variable accuracy and practicality outside of controlled environments, creating a need for simple, portable, and rapid hydration monitoring devices. We review the wide array of devices proposed for hydration assessment based on optical, electromagnetic, chemical, and acoustical properties of tissue and bodily fluids. However, none of these approaches has yet emerged as a reliable indicator in diverse populations across various settings, motivating efforts to develop new methods of hydration assessment.

Low hydration status may be associated with insulin resistance and fat distribution: analysis of the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2008–2010

“…In this context, measuring the hydration status, based on USG, an index of urine concentration, may be a satisfactory phenotypic marker of AVP (25) . Among several hydration markers (22) , USG is appropriate for large-scale populations (23,24) . Therefore, we hypothesised that high USG may be associated with increased risk of IR and poor fat distribution.…”

“…Physiologically, a low hydration status is a major stimulus for the increase in AVP level (1) . Although hydration status can be evaluated in several ways (22) , urine specific gravity (USG) is frequently used (23) , particularly in large-scale populations (24) . Increased USG may indicate a low hydration condition and thus, presumably, elevated AVP (25) .…”

Non Invasive Skin Hydration Level Detection Using Machine Learning

“…Some commonly discussed signs or parameters in the literature for the hydration level detection include Dry Mucous Membrane, dry axilla, tachycardia, poor skin turgor, urine color, urine specific gravity, low systolic blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen to creatinine ratio, total body water, saliva flow rate, saliva osmolality, plasma or serum osmolality, and bio-electrical impedance [10][11][12][13]. There are some bottlenecks associated with the use of each of these parameters or biomarkers.…”

Automatic Dehydration Level Detection Devices

“…Water is needed in the body for metabolic processes, body temperature regulation, joint lubrication, distribution of nutrients, and so on [8] [9]. Acute dehydration can cause physical and cognitive disorders, heatstroke and fatigue, and if severe and uncorrected, even death [10] [11]. Apart from infants and people with special medical conditions, athletes, military personnel, workers, and older adults are at particular risk of dehydration due to their physical activity, environmental exposure, and the challenges of maintaining fluid homeostasis [12] [13].…”