Abstract
BACKGROUND: Wearable devices enable the remote collection of health parameters, supporting the outpatient care plans recommended by the World Health Organization to manage chronic diseases. While disease-specific monitoring is accurate, a comprehensive analysis of wearables across various chronic diseases helps to standardize remote patient monitoring systems. OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to identify wearables for remote monitoring of chronic diseases, focusing on (1) wearable devices, (2) sensor types, (3) health parameters, (4) body locations, and (5) medical applications. METHODS: We developed a search strategy and conducted searches across three databases: PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. After reviewing 1160 articles, we selected 61 that addressed cardiovascular, cancer, neurological, metabolic, respiratory, and other diseases. We created a data analysis method based on our 5 objectives to organize the articles for a comprehensive analysis. RESULTS: From the 61 articles, 39 (64%) used wearable bands such as smartwatches, wristbands, armbands, and straps to monitor chronic diseases. Wearable devices commonly included various sensor types, such as accelerometers (n=39, 64%), photoplethysmographic sensors (n=18, 30%), biopotential meters (n=17, 28%), pressure meters (n=11, 18%), and thermometers (n=9, 15%). These sensors collected diverse health parameters, including acceleration (n=39, 64%), heart rate (n=24, 39%), body temperature (n=9, 15%), blood pressure (n=8, 13%), and peripheral oxygen saturation (n=7, 11%). Common sensor body locations were the wrist, followed by the upper arm and the chest. The medical applications of wearable devices were neurological (n=21, 34%) and cardiovascular diseases (n=15, 25%). Additionally, researchers applied wearable devices for wellness and lifestyle monitoring (n=39, 64%), mainly for activity (n=39, 100%) and sleep (n=10, 26%). CONCLUSIONS: This review underscores that wearable devices primarily function as bands, commonly worn on the wrist, to monitor chronic diseases. These devices collect data on acceleration, heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and peripheral oxygen saturation, with a focus on neurological and cardiovascular diseases. Our findings provide a foundational road map for designing generalized remote patient monitoring systems to manage multimorbidity and support standardized terminology for interoperability across digital health systems. To translate this into practice, we recommend that future research prioritize pragmatic clinical trials with medically certified devices.