Evaluation of continuous, shoe-integrated weight sensors for heart failure patients

Abstract

Weight measurements are part of current medical care for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients. In this chapter, we explore the potential of shoe-mounted pressure sensors to automatically and remotely estimate the weight of CHF patients. We show that weight estimation accuracy degrades due to human subject movement. Moreover, we show that for a standing human subject, the accuracy is influenced by the characteristic of the sensor used to measure pressure. Our experimental evaluation of various pressure sensors widely used in wearable applications reveals that they exhibit properties that are undesirable for precise weight measurements.