Wearable biosensors for continuous health monitoring in global health: a bibliometric review of accessibility, affordability, and deployment trends

Abstract

Wearable biosensors are transforming healthcare by enabling continuous measurement of physiological and biochemical signals outside traditional clinical environments. These body-worn devices promise to democratise health monitoring, but questions remain about their accessibility, affordability and real-world deployment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To understand how the field is evolving in a global health context, we performed a bibliometric analysis covering 2010–2026 using the query ("wearable biosensor*" OR "wearable sensor*" OR "wearable device*") AND ("health monitoring") AND ("global health" OR "public health"). After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 38 articles were analysed. We examined publication trends, thematic evolution, keyword co-occurrence networks and country collaborations and contrasted the findings with evidence from recent literature on AI-enabled wearables and mHealth in low-resource settings. Publications grew substantially after 2020, driven by advances in artificial intelligence (AI), remote patient monitoring and pandemic-related research, but only a minority explicitly addressed affordability, accessibility or LMIC deployment. Thematic clusters centred on wearable devices, health monitoring, AI/machine learning and COVID-19, while gaps included long-term deployment studies and cost analyses. This review highlights the need for interdisciplinary research that integrates technology development with public-health considerations to ensure that wearable biosensors support equitable and scalable healthcare.