Wearable Hot Flash Monitor (WHFM)

The majority of American women transitioning through the menopause experience hot flashes and night sweats. With recent results of the Women's Health Initiative, many women are looking for non-hormonal ways to manage these symptoms. However, the field is currently limited by lack of instruments and devices that capture both objective and subjective measures of menopausal symptoms for use in clinical studies under ambulatory conditions. With funding from the NIH, MDC is currently developing a Wearable Hot Flash Monitor (WHFM) for ambulatory hot flash monitoring. The WHFM is based on measurement of sternal skin conductance. The WHFM is designed to overcome the limitations of current sternal skin conductance devices which includes limited wearability, poor user interfaces and lack of suitability for ambulatory monitoring. MDC is collaborating with clinical researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Wake Forest University in the pilot testing of the WHFM.

The WHFM is designed to be lightweight, unobtrusive and easy to use in both the laboratory and ambulatory environment. Sternal skin conductance is measured using textile electrodes that are embedded into a garment making the WHFM a wearable device. The electronics is housed in a pager sized case that can be clipped to a belt. The WHFM is battery powered and can be recharged as needed. Skin conductance data can be logged for several days and downloaded after an ambulatory trial and analyzed for occurrence of hot flashes. To capture other dimensions of hot flashes, such as intensity and interference with daily life an electronic diary is being developed and integrated with the WHFM.