A bed temperature monitoring system for assessing body movement during sleep.
A method of monitoring and analysing temperature distribution in a patient's bed during bed rest and sleep is described. The system consists of 16 temperature sensors, a solid-state recorder and a personal computer. The temperature sensors are attached on the surface of a bed mat. The temperature of the 16 measurement points are recorded and stored on a multichannel solid-state recorder, where a programmable read-only memory (PROM) is used as the memory device. The PROM is detachable from the recorder, and the temperature data is read by a computer. A two-dimensional temperature distribution pattern is obtained by interpolating the temperature between measured points. The system was effective for long-term temperature monitoring without patient discomfort, and it proved reliable and easy to use. The temperature distribution and changes in the distribution indicated body movement and hence periods of sleep.
Tamura
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T
Institute for Medical and Dental Engineering, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
Togawa
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T
Murata
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M
D001513:Beds; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003199:Computer Systems; D006801:Humans; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009068:Movement; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013696:Temperature; D014159:Transducers