diagnostics Review A Review of Biophysiological and Biochemical Indicators of Stress for Connected and Preventive Healthcare Talha Iqbal 1,* , Adnan Elahi 2 , Pau Redon 1,3 , Patricia Vazquez 1, William Wijns 1 and Atif Shahzad 1,4 1 Smart Sensor Lab, Lambe Institute of Transitional Research, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland;
[email protected] (P.R.);
[email protected] (P.V.);
[email protected] (W.W.);
[email protected] (A.S.) 2 Electrical and Electronic Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland;
[email protected] 3 CÚRAM Center for Research in Medical Devices, H91 W2TY Galway, Ireland 4 Centre for Systems Modelling and Quantitative Biomedicine, Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Stress is a known contributor to several life-threatening medical conditions and a risk factor for triggering acute cardiovascular events, as well as a root cause of several social problems. The burden of stress is increasing globally and, with that, is the interest in developing effective stress- monitoring solutions for preventive and connected health, particularly with the help of wearable sensing technologies. The recent development of miniaturized and flexible biosensors has enabled the development of connected wearable solutions to monitor stress and intervene in time to prevent the progression of stress-induced medical conditions. This paper presents a review of the literature on different physiological and chemical indicators of stress, which are commonly used for quantitative Citation: Iqbal, T.; Elahi, A.; Redon, assessment of stress, and the associated sensing technologies.