Method of respiratory rate measurement using a unique wearable platform and an adaptive optical-based approach

Background: An efficient and accurate method of respiratory rate measurement is still missing in hospital general wards and triage. The goal of this study is to propose a method of respiratory rate measurement that has a potential to be used in general wards, triage, and different hospital settings with comparable performance. We propose a method of respiratory rate measurement that combines a unique wearable platform with an adaptive and optical approach. The optical approach is based on a direct-contact optical diffuse reflectance phenomenon. An adaptive algorithm is developed that computes the first respiratory rate and uses it to select a band. The band then chooses a set of unique optimized parameters in the algorithm to calculate and improve the respiratory rate. We developed a study to compare the proposed method against reference manual counts from 82 patients diagnosed with respiratory diseases.

Results: We found good agreement between the proposed method of respiratory rate measurement and reference manual counts. The performance of the proposed method highlighted deviations with a 95% confidence interval (C.I.) of - 3.34 and 3.67 breaths per minute (bpm) and a mean bias and standard deviation (STD) of 0.05 bpm and 2.56 bpm, respectively.

Conclusions: The performance of the proposed method of respiratory rate measurement is comparable with current manual counting and other respiratory rate devices reported. The method has additional advantages that include ease-of-use, quick setup time, and being mobile for wider clinical use. The proposed method has the potential as a tool to measure respiratory rates in a number of use cases.