A study shows that smartwatches and other wearable devices that continuously measure users’ heart rates, skin temperature and other physiological data can help detect coronavirus infections days before an individual is diagnosed.
According to studies from leading medical and academic institutions, including Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California, smartwatches in the market can predict whether an individual is COVID-19 positive before the virus is detectable by test or before they show symptoms.
The study analyzed heart rate variability, a metric showing variation in time between each heartbeat, which is also a measure of how well a person’s immune system works. Individuals with COVID-19 experienced lower heart rate variability in contrast to COVID-negative individuals.
85% of COVID-19-positive participants experienced changes in their resting heart rates up to nine and a half days prior to the onset of symptoms, according to a separate study from Stanford, where participants wore a variety of different activity trackers from various smartwatch makers.
Experts used the data collected from smartwatch to identify nearly two-thirds of COVID-19 cases 4 to 7 days before people showed symptoms, according to the study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in November.
The researchers also set up an alarm system that alerts wearers that their heart rate has been elevated for a sustained period of time.
Such technology could also help compensate for some of the shortcomings with coronavirus testing, said Stanford University Professor Michael Snyder, who led the study. “The problem is you can’t do it on people all the time, whereas these devices measure you 24/7. The smartwatch gives you back the data right away, in real time, whereas if you’re lucky you’ll get your test back in a few days.”
DrKumo’s Next-Gen Highly Scalable Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Solution
DrKumo’s RPM solutions feature sensor fusion-equipped medical devices including a smartwatch, allowing patients and physicians to continuously track important vital signs like heart rate and other physiological markers.
DrKumo enables doctors to monitor patients’ heart rate and other vital signs continuously in real-time through its smartwatch rather than just having patients monitoring their own.
With chronic disease patients being prone to infection, DrKumo RPM technology allows them to be monitored at home, which keeps them safe, and potentially saves their lives. It also lessens the numbers of patients in emergency rooms and hospitals— an effective way to free up hospital beds for more patients with severe cases.
Visit our website for more information: drkumo.com
