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• Posted September 3, 2024

New High-Tech Mask Uses Breath to Check Your Health

An experimental “smart mask” can check a person’s breath to check their health, researchers report.

Fitted with biosensors, the simple paper mask could be used to track respiratory ailments, kidney disease and a number of other health problems, according to a study published Aug. 29 in the journal Science.

“The smart mask can be prepared at a relatively low cost," said researcher Wei Gao, a professor of medical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech). "It is designed to cost only about $1 in materials."

The mask works by capturing a person’s breath and analyzing the aerosol droplets that people naturally exhale, researchers said.

These droplets contain a variety of gases and substances that can be tested for markers of disease, explained lead researcher Wenzheng Heng, a graduate student at CalTech.

The results of the analysis are then transmitted wirelessly to a smartphone, tablet or computer.

"The mask represents a new paradigm for respiratory and metabolic disease management and precise medicine because we can easily get breath specimens and analyze the chemical molecules in breath in real time through daily masks," Heng said in a CalTech news release.

In one experiment, researchers used the mask to test the breath of people with asthma or COPD. They successfully checked for nitrite, a marker of inflammation that could be used to predict asthma attacks.

In another, the masks were used to detect blood alcohol levels, showing they could be used for on-site drinking-and-driving tests or other monitoring of alcohol consumption.

And in a third, the masks detected levels of ammonia gas in people’s breath, which can be an indicator of kidney disease.  Declining kidney function causes protein metabolism byproducts like urea to accumulate in blood and saliva, and that leads to higher ammonia gas levels in a person’s breath.

"These first studies are a proof of concept," Gao said. "We want to expand this technology to incorporate different markers related to various health conditions. This is a foundation for creating a mask that functions as a versatile general health–monitoring platform."

Study participants wearing the masks found them comfortable, even if they suffered from breathing problems, researchers added.

"Since COVID-19, people are wearing masks more. We can leverage this increased mask use for remote personalized monitoring to get real-time feedback about our own health in our home or office,” Gao said. “For instance, we could use this information to assess how well a medical treatment may be working."

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on kidney disease.

SOURCE: California Institute of Technology, news release, Aug. 29, 2024