Wearable and Portable Monitoring Devices for Older People

Abstract

Currently, there is a growing number of older people worldwide. This demographic change results in serious social and economic problems. Therefore governments, especially in developed countries, attempt to intervene in this process and help to enhance quality of life of older population groups with different means. One of the approaches in this respect is the use of mobile and wireless technologies in healthcare. The purpose of this article is to discuss the use of wearable and portable monitoring devices for older people in three areas of healthcare: fall detection, dementia care and low access to healthcare. The findings revealed that there is a lack of clinical studies examining the use of wearable devices in healthcare for older people. Therefore more research should be performed because the benefits of the use of wearable devices, such as their unobtrusiveness, sensitivity, or reliability, can contribute to the enhancement of quality of life of older people.