Wearable devices to monitor recovery after abdominal surgery: scoping review

Abstract

Background Wearable devices have been proposed as a novel method for monitoring patients after surgery to track recovery, identify complications early, and improve surgical safety. Previous studies have used a heterogeneous range of devices, methods, and analyses. This review aimed to examine current methods and wearable devices used for monitoring after abdominal surgery and identify knowledge gaps requiring further investigation. Methods A scoping review was conducted given the heterogeneous nature of the evidence. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus databases were systematically searched. Studies of wearable devices for monitoring of adult patients within 30 days after abdominal surgery were eligible for inclusion. Results A total of 78 articles from 65 study cohorts, with 5153 patients were included. Thirty-one different wearable devices were used to measure vital signs, physiological measurements, or physical activity. The duration of postoperative wearable device use ranged from 15 h to 3 months after surgery. Studies mostly focused on physical activity metrics (71.8 per cent). Continuous vital sign measurement and physical activity tracking both showed promise for detecting postoperative complications earlier than usual care, but conclusions were limited by poor device precision, adherence, occurrence of false alarms, data transmission problems, and retrospective data analysis. Devices were generally well accepted by patients, with high levels of acceptance, comfort, and safety. Conclusion Wearable technology has not yet realized its potential to improve postoperative monitoring. Further work is needed to overcome technical limitations, improve precision, and reduce false alarms. Prospective assessment of efficacy, using an intention-to-treat approach should be the focus of further studies.

Telemonitoring for perioperative care of outpatient bariatric surgery: Preference-based randomized clinical trial

“…The added value of continuous remote monitoring on morbidity and mortality after general or bariatric surgery has not been established yet. Large datasets and future studies are needed to elaborate on this aspect, but also to improve monitoring and alarming techniques [ 34 – 37 ]. Nevertheless, we envision that the results and experiences gained from the outpatient monitoring pathway in the present study, can serve as a blueprint for rolling out telemonitoring for other perioperative care pathways.…”

Risk for Poor Post-Operative Quality of Life Among Wearable Use Subgroups in an All of Us Research Cohort

“…The frailty index was the most significant risk factor which is a composition of data obtained from wearable device, survey questions and clinicopathological measures. Numerous studies have suggested that measurements from wearable sensors are related to clinical outcomes, such as complications, length of hospital stay, and readmission [ 24 ]. Adding to this evidence, we found that frailty (a measure created using the activity data obtained from the wearable device) was the most significant risk factor of poor recovery post-surgery across different datasets.…”

Outcomes of Vital Sign Monitoring of an Acute Surgical Cohort With Wearable Sensors and Digital Alerting Systems: A Pragmatically Designed Cohort Study and Propensity-Matched Analysis

“…These alerts are generated when pre-established thresholds for vital parameters, often configurable, are breached, informing healthcare professionals on mobile phone devices or central monitoring hubs. This, in time, can be used to predict deterioration rather than relying on protocol-driven intermittent traditional based measurements ( Wells et al, 2022 ).…”