Wrist-worn and chest-strap wearable devices: Systematic review on accuracy and metrological characteristics

This paper analyses the state of the art on accuracy and metrological characteristics of wrist-worn and chest-strap wearable devices, in comparison with reference instruments. Basing on literature available results, neither a standard protocol for validation nor fixed metrological characteristics can be identified. Wearable devices are validated without standard procedures (test protocol, population characteristics and metrological parameters), which turns into irregular results, barely comparable each other. Therefore, it would be extremely interesting to conduct a pilot study to identify standard characteristics to evaluate accuracy, compliant to the guidelines for the expression of uncertainty in measurement and recognized by organizations promoting public health (e.g. the Food and Drug Administration in the United States). This way, it would be possible to start establishing a database of wearable devices’ metrological properties, useful not only for research, but also for caregivers and sportsmen, in different application fields (e.g. sport, medicine, Active and Assisted Living, etc.).