New wearable sensor can diagnose diseases from sweat

​Boston: Stanford scientists have developed a new wristband-type wearable device that can analyse sweat to diagnose and monitor diseases like diabetes and cystic fibrosis. The new sensor collects sweat, measures its molecular constituents, such as chloride ions and glucose and then transmits the results for analysis and diagnostics.

Unlike old-fashioned sweat collectors, the new device does not require patients to sit still for a long time while sweat accumulates in the collectors.

The two-part system of flexible sensors and microprocessors sticks to the skin, stimulates the sweat glands and then detects the presence of different molecules and ions based on their electrical signals.

The more chloride in the sweat, for example, the more electrical voltage is generated at the sensor's surface.

The team at Stanford University in the US used the wearable sweat sensor in separate studies to detect chloride ion levels - high levels are an indicator of cystic fibrosis - and to compare levels of glucose in sweat to that in blood. High blood glucose levels can indicate diabetes.

Conventional methods for diagnosing cystic fibrosis - a genetic disease that causes mucus to build up in the lungs, pancreas and other organs - require that patients visit a specialised centre and sit still while electrodes stimulate sweat glands in their skin to provide sweat for the test.