Emerging wearable medical devices towards personalized healthcare

The increasingly aging population and prevalence of chronic diseases have been observed in many countries, which increase great burden for the health care system over recent few decades. With the technology innovation in IT and biomedical engineering, more and more advanced wearable medical technologies and products are emerging and coming to use by the public. Since wearable medical is deemed as one of the most promising approaches for healthcare monitoring, early diagnose and personalized treatment, wearable medical devices will contribute to the development of more cost-effective and sustainable healthcare system. In this paper, recent advancements in wearable medical products for personalized medicine and E-health are reviewed, including wearable multi-parameter physiological devices, wearable patch physiological monitoring devices, fitness training devices, wearable biofeedback training devices, and mobile phone based healthcare applications. Finally, future development of wearable medical technologies, specially, the related policies and plans in China, are discussed.