Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Real-Time Mobile Detection of Drug Use with Wearable Biosensors: A Pilot Study

  • Toxicology Investigation
  • Published:
Journal of Medical Toxicology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

While reliable detection of illicit drug use is paramount to the field of addiction, current methods involving self-report and urine drug screens have substantial limitations that hinder their utility. Wearable biosensors may fill a void by providing valuable objective data regarding the timing and contexts of drug use. This is a preliminary observational study of four emergency department patients receiving parenteral opioids and one individual using cocaine in a natural environment. A portable biosensor was placed on the inner wrist of each subject, to continuously measure electrodermal activity (EDA), skin temperature, and acceleration. Data were continuously recorded for at least 5 min prior to drug administration, during administration, and for at least 30 min afterward. Overall trends in biophysiometric parameters were assessed. Injection of opioids and cocaine use were associated with rises in EDA. Cocaine injection was also associated with a decrease in skin temperature. Opioid tolerance appeared to be associated with a blunted physiologic response as measured by the biosensor. Laterality may be an important factor, as magnitude of response varied between dominant and nondominant wrists in a single patient with bilateral wrist measurements. Changes in EDA and skin temperature are temporally associated with intravenous administration of opioids and cocaine; the intensity of response, however, may vary depending on history and extent of prior use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Boyer EW, Smelson D, Fletcher R et al (2010) Wireless technologies, ubiquitous computing and mobile health: application to drug abuse treatment and compliance with HIV therapies. J Med Toxicol 6:212–216. doi:10.1007/s13181-010-0080-z

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Boyer EW, Fletcher R, Fay RJ et al (2012) Preliminary efforts directed toward the detection of craving of illicit substances: the iHeal project. J Med Toxicol 8:5–9. doi:10.1007/s13181-011-0200-4

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Harrison L.The validity of self-reported drug use in survey research: an overview and critique of research methods 1997.

  4. Fletcher RR, Tam S, Omojola O, et al. Wearable sensor platform and mobile application for use in cognitive behavioral therapy for drug addiction and PTSD. 2011 33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. 2011; 1802–1805. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2011.6090513

  5. Poh M-Z, Loddenkemper T, Reinsberger C et al (2012) Convulsive seizure detection using a wrist-worn electrodermal activity and accelerometry biosensor. Epilepsia 53:e93–e97. doi:10.1111/j.1528-1167.2012.03444.x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Picard RW, Fedor S, Ayzenberg Y. Multiple arousal theory and daily-life electrodermal activity asymmetry. Emotion Review. 2014.

  7. Adams P, Rabbi M, Rahman T, et al. Towards personal stress informatics: comparing minimally invasive techniques for measuring daily stress in the wild. pac.cs.cornell.edu

  8. Healey JA, Picard RW (2005) Detecting stress during real-world driving tasks using physiological sensors. Intell Transp Syst. doi:10.1109/TITS.2005.848368

    Google Scholar 

  9. Schulter G, Papousek I (1998) Bilateral electrodermal activity: relationships to state and trait characteristics of hemisphere asymmetry. Int J Psychophysiol 31:1–12. doi:10.1016/S0167-8760(98)00027-0

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Schulter G, Papousek I (1992) Bilateral electrodermal activity: reliability, laterality and individual differences. Int J Psychophysiol 13:199–213. doi:10.1016/0167-8760(92)90070-R

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Světlák M, Bob P, Roman R, Ježek S. Stress-induced alterations of left-right electrodermal activity coupling indexed by pointwise transinformation. Physiological research. 2013.

  12. Glick SD, Hinds PA (1985) Differences in amphetamine and morphine sensitivity in lateralized and non-lateralized rats: locomotor activity and drug self-administration. Eur J Pharmacol 118:239–244. doi:10.1016/0014-2999(85)90134-7

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Dubé A-A, Duquette M, Roy M et al (2009) Brain activity associated with the electrodermal reactivity to acute heat pain. NeuroImage 45:169–180. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.10.024

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Freedman MJ, Lester KM, McNamara C et al (2006) Cell phones for ecological momentary assessment with cocaine-addicted homeless patients in treatment. J Subst Abuse Treat 30:105–111. doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2005.10.005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Epstein DH, Willner-Reid J, Vahabzadeh M et al (2009) Real-time electronic diary reports of cue exposure and mood in the hours before cocaine and heroin craving and use. Arch Gen Psychiatry 66:88–94. doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2008.509

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Preston KL, Epstein DH (2011) Stress in the daily lives of cocaine and heroin users: relationship to mood, craving, relapse triggers, and cocaine use. Psychopharmacology 218:29–37. doi:10.1007/s00213-011-2183-x

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Epstein DH, Marrone GF, Heishman SJ et al (2010) Tobacco, cocaine, and heroin: craving and use during daily life. Addict Behav 35:318–324. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2009.11.003

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to acknowledge the generous financial support from the University of Massachusetts Department of Emergency Medicine and the National Institute of Health.

Funding Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health through Grant Number R01DA033769-01 and a grant from the University of Massachusetts Emergency Medicine Research Fund.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephanie Carreiro.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Carreiro, S., Smelson, D., Ranney, M. et al. Real-Time Mobile Detection of Drug Use with Wearable Biosensors: A Pilot Study. J. Med. Toxicol. 11, 73–79 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13181-014-0439-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13181-014-0439-7

Keywords

Navigation