Wearable Perspiration Sensor May Improve Inflammation Monitoring in IBD | Gastro Today

A noninvasive perspiration sensor developed by a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Dallas was used to track inflammation and inflammatory markers in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Wearable Perspiration Sensor Enables IBD Inflammation Tracking

Sarah Shahub, PhD, and colleagues conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of the sensor in tracking inflammatory markers of IBD. The findings are published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

The investigators explained that the noninvasive sensor continuously sampled perspiration from patients with IBD to monitor C-reactive protein (CRP) and calprotectin levels as indicators of inflammation.

The cross-sectional study enrolled 33 patients with IBD. Investigators compared the expression of CRP and calprotectin in perspiration samples obtained via the wearable sensor with expression of the same biomarkers in serum and stool samples, respectively.

Measurements of body perspiration were taken by the sensor every 60 seconds, and for the “standard of care assessment,” patients wore the sensor for 40 to 130 minutes. The investigators also reported that serum samples were simultaneously collected, and stool samples for measurement of calprotectin were obtained from a subcohort.

In addition, the investigators reported the results of a principal component analysis, which was performed on patient demographic data. The analysis revealed that age, diagnosis, and disease activity were “major contributors to variance in that dataset.”

The investigators also underscored that when endoscopic scores from patients were integrated into the principal component analysis, both endoscopy score and disease activity were found to contribute strongly to primary variance.

According to the study results, patients with Crohn’s disease had a higher median CRP level as determined from perspiration and serum samples than patients with ulcerative colitis (UC). However, median calprotectin markers were higher in patients with UC than in individuals with Crohn’s disease.

The findings also showed that IBD of the colon was associated with increased levels of median calprotectin in perspiration, stool, and serum samples when compared with levels of the biomarker measured in patients with isolated ileal IBD.

Investigators reported results across age groups and observed that median CRP levels in serum and perspiration samples were higher in patients younger than 40 years compared with their older counterparts. In contrast, median calprotectin levels were higher in serum, perspiration, and stool samples obtained from patients aged 40 years and older, compared with their younger counterparts.

Overall, the investigators concluded that the wearable sensor for tracking inflammation in patients with IBD demonstrated “consistency of perspiration CRP and calprotectin measurements with corresponding serum and stool measurements.”