Wearable Biomonitoring Platform for the Assessment of Stress and its Impact on Cognitive Performance of Firefighters: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Background:Stress is a complex process with an impact on health and performance. The use of wearable sensor-based monitoring systems offers interesting opportunities for advanced health care solutions for stress analysis. Considering the stressful nature of firefighting and its importance for the community’s safety, this study was conducted for firefighters.Objectives:A biomonitoring platform was designed, integrating different biomedical systems to enable the acquisition of real time Electrocardiogram (ECG), computation of linear Heart Rate Variability (HRV) features and collection of perceived stress levels. This platform was tested using an experimental protocol, designed to understand the effect of stress on firefighter’s cognitive performance, and whether this effect is related to the autonomic response to stress.Method:The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) was used as a testing platform along with a 2-Choice Reaction Time Task. Linear HRV features from the participants were acquired using an wearable ECG. Self-reports were used to assess perceived stress levels.Results:The TSST produced significant changes in some HRV parameters (AVNN, SDNN and LF/HF) and subjective measures of stress, which recovered after the stress task. Although these short-term changes in HRV showed a tendency to normalize, an impairment on cognitive performance was found after performing the stress event.Conclusion:Current findings suggested that stress compromised cognitive performance and caused a measurable change in autonomic balance. Our wearable biomonitoring platform proved to be a useful tool for stress assessment and quantification. Future studies will implement this biomonitoring platform for the analysis of stress in ecological settings.

Relationships Between Heart Rate Variability, Occupational Performance, and Fitness for Tactical Personnel: A Systematic Review

“…For the Fire/Rescue personnel, members were serving in French, Brazilian, Finnish, Portuguese, or South Korean communities. A total of nine countries were represented: USA ( 27 , 32 , 33 ), Spain ( 29 , 31 , 34 , 35 ), Brazil ( 30 , 36 , 42 , 46 ), South Africa ( 37 ), Norway ( 38 ), France ( 28 , 39 ), Finland ( 40 , 41 ), Portugal ( 43 , 44 ), and South Korea ( 45 ).…”

“…The low-frequency band (LF) and high frequency band (HF) spectral power were the most popular analytical methods, with 18 studies documenting these HRV characteristics. Other spectral analyses included LF/HF ratio ( 27 , 30 , 36 , 37 , 39 , 41 , 44 , 45 , 54 ), total power (TP) ( 39 ), and the very-low frequency band (VLF) ( 41 ). The nonlinear analyses included alpha1 (α1), a measure of signal self-similarity ( 42 ), sample entropy (SampEn) ( 42 ), SD1, and SD2 ( 35 , 37 , 42 ).…”

“…They found significant differences in the SDNN and LF/HF ratio from days 2 to 3 of recovery. Rodrigues et al (44) found significant differences in LF/HF ratio during a variety of fire and rescue tasks. Specifically, the LF/HF ratio increased most during response to accidents.…”

Association between Shift Work and Neurocognitive Function among Firefighters in South Korea: A Prospective before–after Study

“…A firefighter who is engaged in long-term shift work may be at risk of cognitive decline. An experimental study performed by Rodrigues et al found that cognitive performance in firefighters decreases after exposure to increased levels of stress [ 25 ]. However, the effects of shift work on neurocognitive function in firefighters have not yet been studied.…”

Intelligent Stress Monitoring Assistant for First Responders

“…Stress compromises the cognitive performance of firefighters [6]. During emergency scenarios, firefighters have to quickly respond to numerous stimuli under pressure, while the decisions made during these emergency situations tend to be based on information that is ambiguous, incomplete or unusual, further complicating the decision-making process [7].…”