Wearable and Portable Devices for Acquisition of Cardiac Signals while Practicing Sport: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Wearable and portable devices capable of acquiring cardiac signals are at the frontier of the sport industry. They are becoming increasingly popular for monitoring physiological parameters while practicing sport, given the advances in miniaturized technologies, powerful data, and signal processing applications. Data and signals acquired by these devices are increasingly used to monitor athletes’ performances and thus to define risk indices for sport-related cardiac diseases, such as sudden cardiac death. This scoping review investigated commercial wearable and portable devices employed for cardiac signal monitoring during sport activity. A systematic search of the literature was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. After study selection, a total of 35 studies were included in the review. The studies were categorized based on the application of wearable or portable devices in (1) validation studies, (2) clinical studies, and (3) development studies. The analysis revealed that standardized protocols for validating these technologies are necessary. Indeed, results obtained from the validation studies turned out to be heterogeneous and scarcely comparable, since the metrological characteristics reported were different. Moreover, the validation of several devices was carried out during different sport activities. Finally, results from clinical studies highlighted that wearable devices are crucial to improve athletes’ performance and to prevent adverse cardiovascular events.