Impact of head-down-tilt body position on abdomen resistance for urinary bladder monitory applications

Tissue electrical impedance (or bioimpedance) is a quantity related to the passive, frequency-dependent electrical properties of a biological tissue and is a promising modality for continuous monitoring of relative bladder volume and bladder activity. In this study, the impact of body position [specifically 6° head-down tilt (HDT)] intended to induce fluid redistribution and, therefore, result in a change in the electrical resistance of the abdomen is evaluated. The abdomen resistance (10 kHz–100 kHz) of nine healthy young adults was measured before and after 240 min in a 6° HDT position. Over this period, the resistance increase was not statistically significant even though the average bladder volume increased by 506 mL. It was expected that the abdomen resistance would decrease with an increase in bladder volume over this period. The masking of the expected resistance decrease is attributed to the shift in the fluid from the legs/abdomen to the neck/chest caused by the HDT body position over this period. Overall, this suggests that methods to differentiate bladder volume changes from other types of fluid shifts in the body are needed for resistance-based monitoring under free-living conditions.