The rise of oximeters and other wearable medical devices

Oximeters Are in Short Supply

As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened and prevention measures were widely implemented in homes, oximeters became increasingly hard to find. According to the Baidu Index in China, the average daily search volume for oximeters in December 2022 was 19,257 searches, representing a year-on-year increase of 6,342%. Sales of oximeters soared, making it hard to find a single oximeter on store shelves. At one point in time, oximeters were completely out of stock.

What Exactly is an Oximeter?

Oximeters, also known as blood oxygen saturation meters or pulse oximeters, measure the differences in the absorption spectrum of hemoglobin when it is oxygenated and non-oxygenated. Using optical principles, they detect the ratio of oxygenated hemoglobin to non-oxygenated hemoglobin in peripheral tissues, thus monitoring blood oxygen saturation levels in real time. This data can then be used to assist diagnoses.

In addition to blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), oximeters measure patients’ perfusion indexes and other vital signs. They can be divided into bedside/desktop pulse oximeters and portable pulse oximeters. The latter include finger pulse oximeters, handheld pulse oximeters, and wearable pulse oximeters, all of which are suitable for home use.

On January 7, 2023, Alibaba announced that it would donate 125 million RMB to purchase urgently needed medical supplies, as well as donate two oximeters each to more than 600,000 clinics located in villages. This donation covered virtually all of rural China.

(Source: https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20230108A0693U00)

Rise of All Wearable Medical Devices

The escalating demand for oximeters is likely to apply to all wearable medical devices, including smart watches and wearable smart patches. It has been predicted that more than 320 million wearable medical devices will be shipped worldwide in 2022 alone, increasing to 440 million by 2024. These numbers represent a compound annual growth rate of 17%.

(Source: https://finance.eastmoney.com/a2/202112182218423029.html)

As global standards of living continues to rise, more and more emphasis is being placed on health. Not surprisingly, the demand for timely and personalized healthcare services has risen accordingly. Wearable medical technology not only enables consumers to evaluate their health status in real time, but also provides information to medical staff that helps them customize patients’ treatment and healthcare plans.

Clearly, wearable medical devices have the potential to positively impact many aspects of healthcare, from diagnosis to treatment.

How Wearable Devices Can Aid Early Diagnosis

Wearable medical devices can aid the early diagnosis of serious health conditions by continuously tracking patients’ key vital signs – such as heart rate, perspiration, skin temperature, and blood sugar levels. Furthermore, since wearable medical devices continuously provide information in real-time, they can help healthcare providers customize diagnosis and treatment plans more accurately and effectively than in typical outpatient clinical settings where insufficient data can undermine the quality of care.

Heart disease, neurological diseases and diabetes are among the potentially serious health conditions that can be detected and treated early if patients are monitored, or self-monitor, using wearable devices.

How Wearable Devices Can Assist in Health Monitoring

Wearable medical devices allow healthcare providers to monitor and track the condition of patients with known conditions. Patient data can be continuously collected and shared with healthcare providers, who can then make timely adjustments to disease management plans. This is especially important for the elderly or patients with long-term underlying conditions.

Wearable technology is commonly used to monitor and calculate blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation, and blood sugar concentration levels. Hence, patients are empowered to track their physical health in real time. As mentioned, oximeters were widely used by many people, both healthcare providers and the public, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting blood oxygen level readings proved invaluable in the diagnosis and treatment of the coronavirus.

How Wearable Devices Can Expedite Recovery and Treatment

Thanks to their ease of use and convenience, wearable devices can play a key role in the patient recovery process. With a wearable device, patients can receive care when they are in hospital, at home, or even on the road. For example, electromyography (EMG) sensors and respiration sensors, as well as smart gloves and wireless sensors, can assist stroke patients' recovery. Heart monitoring devices can enable chronically ill patients to receive home care rather than in a clinical setting.

These wearable devices not only empower patients and caregivers with information, but also peace of mind.

How Wearable Devices Can Track Activity

Wearable devices with activity tracking functions are playing an increasingly important role in improving patients’ health and quality of life. By recording and analyzing the quality and quantity of patients' daily physical activities, these devices enable healthcare providers to assess patients' lifestyles, subsequently suggest improvements, and even send reminders to exercise.

Smart watches and other activity trackers worn on the wrist, as well as sensors that can be worn on the body or on clothing, are typically used for the monitoring of elderly patients and patients undergoing bariatric surgery. In the event of any abnormalities, wearable devices immediately raise an alarm and also enable easy access to recorded data, making diagnosis more accurate and treatment more effective.

Design and Manufacturing Challenges

It seems that wearable devices are on everyone’s wrists – and everyone’s lips. From necklaces that measure air pollution to rings that monitor sleep, heart rate, activity levels, and temperature, their applications and uses are multiplying rapidly. However, while they are easy to use, they are not easy to design and manufacture. The need to maintain small form factors and low power consumption, as well as issues related to data completeness and costs, pose complex challenges.

Since wearable devices generally require the smallest spatial footprint possible, engineers must strike a delicate balance between size, weight, performance, and energy consumption. These design requirements are unique among embedded systems.

Recently, Avnet partnered with Molex to survey more than 600 engineers around the world directly involved in the design and development of wearable devices. The results show that cost (38%), durability (37%), and power supply (35%) are the three most important considerations and challenges for developing new, smaller, and more energy-efficient wearable diagnostic devices. (For more information, please see: Diagnostic wearables: Design challenges and opportunities)

Fortunately, advances in power storage technology are keeping pace with the rise in popularity of wearable medical devices. Moreover, thanks to the development of semiconductor processes, integrated devices with smaller form factors and lower power consumption are surfacing in the market. All these factors bode well for the future of wearable technology.

Future Outlook

Wearable medical devices are set to become one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the world over the next decade. The technology has the potential to disrupt several parallel markets. It can help lower modifiable risk factors for lifestyle diseases, aid and expedite diagnoses, optimize treatment plans, and improve patient outcomes. It can also help dramatically reduce healthcare costs.

As the healthcare industry transitions to a more patient-centric and consumer-driven model, the norm of doctors basing their treatment decisions on fragmented medical histories is being challenged. One of the main drivers of this development is the advancement and popularization of wearable medical devices. Their potential for good is endless.