Skin-interfaced microfluidic system with personalized sweating rate and sweat chloride analytics for sports science applications.
prospective_cohort · Level II
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 33310859.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abe3929 and PMC identifier 7732194.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Advanced capabilities in noninvasive, in situ monitoring of sweating rate and sweat electrolyte losses could enable real-time personalized fluid-electrolyte intake recommendations. Established sweat analysis techniques using absorbent patches require post-collection harvesting and benchtop analysis of sweat and are thus impractical for ambulatory use. Here, we introduce a skin-interfaced wearable microfluidic device and smartphone image processing platform that enable analysis of regional sweating rate and sweat chloride concentration ([Cl<sup>-</sup>]). Systematic studies (<i>n</i> = 312 athletes) establish significant correlations for regional sweating rate and sweat [Cl<sup>-</sup>] in a controlled environment and during competitive sports under varying environmental conditions. The regional sweating rate and sweat [Cl<sup>-</sup>] results serve as inputs to algorithms implemented on a smartphone software application that predicts whole-body sweating rate and sweat [Cl<sup>-</sup>]. This low-cost wearable sensing approach could improve the accessibility of physiological insights available to sports scientists, practitioners, and athletes to inform hydration strategies in real-world ambulatory settings.