WEARABLE PERSPIRATION SENSOR FOR CONTINUOUS INFLAMMATION TRACKING IN INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

Introduction:
Wearable sensors present an opportunity to monitor inflammation via noninvasive mediums such as perspiration, which can be sampled continuously to track inflammation-related markers in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Here we demonstrate the feasibility of a perspiration sensor for C-reactive protein (CRP) and calprotectin, and the important clinical significance of these markers.
Methods:
33 subjects with IBD were enrolled in a cross-sectional study of CRP and calprotectin expression in perspiration compared to clinically relevant expression of these markers in serum and stool, respectively. Perspiration on-body measurements were obtained every 1-minute using a proprietary wearable sensor worn by subjects for 40-130 minutes during a standard of care colonoscopy. Synchronously collected serum levels were measured, as were fecal calprotectin levels from a subset of subjects.
Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the relationships between subject demographic data, including diagnosis, disease status, age, sex, and medication. Perspiration measurements were averaged over the observation period. Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the CRP and calprotectin in perspiration and in serum in subjects over versus under 40 years of age, and subjects with Crohn’s disease (CD) versus with ulcerative colitis (UC). The same analysis was performed on the subcohort of patients with fecal calprotectin assessment.
Results:
PCA of subjects’ demographic data identified age, disease status, and diagnosis as the three strongest corresponding variables (Figure 1A, B). In perspiration and serum, median CRP was observed to be elevated in patients with CD versus UC and median calprotectin was elevated in UC versus CD patients (Figure 1C-F). Median perspiration and serum CRP was observed to be elevated in patients under versus over 40 years of age and median perspiration, serum, and fecal calprotectin was elevated in patients over versus under 40 years.
Conclusion:
We demonstrate a noninvasive perspiration-based sensor for tracking inflammatory markers in IBD and demonstrate consistency of CRP and calprotectin expression in serum and stool with perspiration measurements.