Clinical outcomes of passive sensors in remote monitoring: a systematic review
Author(s)
Rama, Essam
Zuberi, Sharukh
Aly, Mohamed
Askari, Alan
Iqbal, Fahad
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Remote monitoring technologies have transformed healthcare delivery by enabling the in-home management of chronic conditions, improving patient autonomy, and supporting clinical oversight. Passive sensing, a subset of remote monitoring, facilitates unobtrusive, real-time data collection without active user engagement. Leveraging devices such as smartphones, wearables, and smart home sensors, these technologies offer advantages over traditional self-reports and intermittent evaluations by capturing behavioural, physiological, and environmental metrics. This systematic review evaluates the clinical utility of passive sensing technologies used in remote monitoring, with a specific emphasis on their impact on clinical outcomes and feasibility in real-world healthcare settings. A PRISMA-guided search identified 26 studies addressing conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia, cancer, cardiopulmonary disorders, and musculoskeletal issues. Findings demonstrated significant correlations between sensor-derived metrics and clinical assessments, validating their potential as digital biomarkers. These technologies demonstrated feasibility and ecological validity in capturing continuous, real-world health data and offer a unified framework for enhancing patient care through three main applications: monitoring chronic disease progression, detecting acute health deterioration, and supporting therapeutic interventions. For example, these technologies successfully identified gait speed changes in Parkinson’s disease, tracked symptom fluctuations in cancer patients, and provided real-time alerts for acute events such as heart failure decompensation. Challenges included long-term adherence, scalability, data integration, security, and ownership. Future research should prioritise validation across diverse settings, long-term impact assessment, and integration into clinical workflows to maximise their utility.
Date Issued
2025-06-01
Date Acceptance
2025-05-22
Citation
Sensors, 2025, 25 (11)
ISSN
1424-8220
Publisher
MDPI
Journal / Book Title
Sensors
Volume
25
Issue
11
Copyright Statement
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
10.3390/s25113285
Subjects
passive sensing
remote monitoring
telemedicine
wireless health
in-home monitoring
digital health
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
3285
Date Publish Online
2025-05-23