Occupational Stress Monitoring Using Biomarkers and Smartwatches: A Systematic Review

Sensors (Basel). 2022 Sep 2;22(17):6633. doi: 10.3390/s22176633.

Abstract

This article presents a systematic review of the literature concerning scientific publications on wrist wearables that can help to identify stress levels. The study is part of a research project aimed at modeling a stress surveillance system and providing coping recommendations. The investigation followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. In total, 38 articles were selected for full reading, and 10 articles were selected owing to their alignment with the study proposal. The types of technologies used in the research stand out amongst our main results after analyzing the articles. It is noteworthy that stress assessments are still based on standardized questionnaires, completed by the participants. The main biomarkers collected by the devices used in the selected works included: heart rate variation, cortisol analysis, skin conductance, body temperature, and blood volume at the wrist. This study concludes that developing a wrist wearable for stress identification using physiological and chemical sensors is challenging but possible and applicable.

Keywords: Internet of Things; physicochemical parameters; pulse wearable; stress measurement.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Biomarkers
  • Heart Rate
  • Humans
  • Occupational Stress* / diagnosis
  • Research Design
  • Wrist*

Substances

  • Biomarkers

Grants and funding

This research was funded by FAPERGS 06/2020 Public Notice—Science and Technology in the Fight against COVID-19, funded by the Government of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (20/2551-0000262-4), Research Project: Intelligent system for the identification of occupational stress in health teams—stress surveillance system and coping recommendations. Resources were also received from the PDPG/CAPES/FAPERGS (21/2551-0000513).