Interactions between all physiological systems, in particular between the neuroendocrine system and the hypothalamus, control physiological variables such as growth and development, vitamins, thermoregulation, energy balance, oxygenation, detoxification, acid-base balance and osmoregulation.
Most of the existing vital signs monitoring systems worldwide only provide global information and fail to monitor deep tissues or work in real time. Also, it is not easy to obtain a sufficient number of test targets and environmental contamination can affect the results, so it is essential to study the correlations between the tests and the intended detection targets.
By identifying a patient's genetic predisposition to a particular health condition and combining it with real-time data from wearable biosensors, healthcare systems can predict, prevent or monitor diseases with unprecedented accuracy. This is Health 5.0, which incorporates monitoring and detection and is reinforced by virtual care and intelligent health management. What is now known as ubiquitous computing (pervasive computing) could enhance the application and performance of biosensors in a personalised healthcare context.
Its role can play a key role in the monitoring and treatment of diseases with a critical impact on the wellbeing of the population. About 1.5 million people die each year directly from diabetes, half of them before the age of 70. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been identified as a global epidemic disease over the past three decades. It affects more than 800 million people, approximately 10% of the world's population, and by 2040 it could have risen from the 16th leading cause of death to the 5th. Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death globally, 85% of the time from strokes and heart attacks, and hypertension affects approximately 30%-45% of the world's adult population, according to the WHO.
The path to developing these new solutions is, however, complex and fraught with difficulties, beyond the already intricate innovation process, which involves multiple steps such as research, prototyping, testing and validation. One of the initial problems is that implantable sensors are often not widely used in clinical practice, mainly due to their limited availability. This inevitably translates into cost, which can make them unaffordable for many patients and healthcare systems.
The lack of useful materials also limits the development of high-performance devices for implantable biodegradable biosensors. The components and format of traditional biosensors are incompatible with implantable biodegradable biosensors. The former are heavy and bulky, the latter must be small and lightweight for seamless integration into the body.