The wristband consists of a microneedle array worn on prime of the wrist to measure glucose, alcohol and lactate ranges within the interstitial fluid underneath the pores and skin. Credit score: An-Yi Chang
A brand new wearable wristband may considerably enhance diabetes administration by constantly monitoring not solely glucose but in addition different chemical and cardiovascular alerts that affect illness development and total well being. The know-how was printed in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
The versatile wristband consists of a microneedle array that painlessly samples interstitial fluid underneath the pores and skin to measure glucose, lactate and alcohol in actual time utilizing three completely different enzymes embedded inside the tiny needles. Designed for straightforward alternative, the microneedle array may be swapped out to tailor put on intervals. This reduces the chance of allergic reactions or an infection whereas supporting longer-term use.
Concurrently, the wristband makes use of an ultrasonic sensor array to measure blood stress and arterial stiffness, whereas ECG sensors measure coronary heart charge immediately from wrist pulses. These physiological alerts are key indicators of cardiovascular threat, which is usually elevated in individuals with diabetes however is never monitored constantly outdoors of a scientific setting.
“Comprehensive and effective management of diabetes requires more than just a single glucose reading,” stated An-Yi Chang, a postdoctoral researcher within the Aiiso Yufeng Li Household Division of Chemical and Nano Engineering at UC San Diego. Components like weight-reduction plan, alcohol consumption, train and stress affect blood sugar and coronary heart well being in ways in which conventional monitoring methods can’t absolutely seize.
“By tracking glucose, lactate, alcohol and cardiovascular signals in real time, this pain-free wristband can help people better understand their health and enable early action to reduce diabetes risk,” added Chang, who’s a co-first creator on the research with Muyang Lin, Lu Yin and Maria Reynoso, all from the identical division.
The BLUE wristband platform was worn on the contributors wrist throughout leaping rope. Credit score: Nature Biomedical Engineering (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-025-01439-z
The event of this wearable system was made doable by the collaboration of the analysis teams led by Joseph Wang and Sheng Xu, each professors within the Aiiso Yufeng Li Household Division of Chemical and Nano Engineering on the UC San Diego Jacobs Faculty of Engineering.
Wang’s group makes a speciality of creating wearables that may monitor a number of chemical biomarkers within the physique concurrently, whereas Xu’s group makes a speciality of creating wearable ultrasound sensors that may monitor cardiovascular alerts deep contained in the physique. By combining their experience, the groups designed a tool that gives steady, simultaneous measurement of biomarkers and cardiac alerts in a single wearable wristband platform.
A wise gadget linked to the wristband shows stay information streams from the sensors. It reveals blood stress, coronary heart charge and arterial stiffness alongside real-time readings of glucose, alcohol and lactate ranges. This allows wearers to see how each day actions—like meals, alcohol consumption or train—have an effect on their physique in actual time and, in flip, get hold of personalised insights into their metabolic and cardiovascular responses.

The wristband consists of an ultrasonic sensor array and ECG sensors worn on the backside of the wrist to measure blood stress, arterial stiffness and coronary heart charge. Credit score: An-Yi Chang

This versatile wristband measures an individual’s glucose, lactate and alcohol ranges together with blood stress, arterial stiffness and coronary heart charge. Credit score: An-Yi Chang

The microneedle array may be eliminated for straightforward alternative. Credit score: An-Yi Chang
The wristband demonstrated glorious settlement with business gadgets throughout quite a lot of exams. When monitoring glucose, outcomes carefully matched these of a blood glucose meter and steady glucose monitor whereas concurrently capturing cardiovascular responses.
Equally, exams monitoring alcohol consumption aligned with a breathalyzer, and lactate monitoring throughout train paralleled outcomes from a blood lactate meter. At every step, the wristband supplied steady, simultaneous monitoring of extra alerts, together with real-time quantitative blood stress, coronary heart charge and arterial stiffness.
This functionality may supply wearers a complete physiological snapshot throughout on a regular basis actions. It may additionally assist sufferers and clinicians establish harmful developments earlier than they escalate, probably alerting customers to cardiovascular dangers that conventional glucose displays would miss.
Subsequent steps embody increasing the wearable system to incorporate extra chemical and cardiovascular markers, and designing it to be powered by sweat or daylight. The researchers additionally envision integrating machine studying algorithms to research the huge quantities of non-public information the system collects.
Extra info:
An-Yi Chang et al, Integration of chemical and bodily inputs for monitoring metabolites and cardiac alerts in diabetes, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41551-025-01439-z
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Wristband sensor offers all-in-one monitoring for diabetes and cardiovascular care (2025, July 10)
retrieved 10 July 2025
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