We’ve become accustomed to our phones and other gadgets being able to tell us our heart rate or how many steps we’ve taken. We’ve downloaded apps to record calories and motivate us get fit and healthy. And the majority of us have used a wearable device, such as a FitBit or Jawbone, to track how many steps we’ve taken and the amount calories we’ve burned.
Now there’s hope that wearables with biosensors, such as Apple Watches and Fitbits, which can detect movement, heart rate and more, may be able to detect early changes in health and alert wearers to potential diseases and the need to visit a doctor.
Subtle changes in health indicators, such as heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature, which may not be present during an annual check-up or that may vary throughout the day, can be detected by wearable technology and could help doctors make a more accurate assessment.
To prove this point, researchers from Stanford University and Veterans Affairs Palo Alto gave a Basis brand device, which tracked heart rate, skin temperature and movement, to 44 people to use for five months each. The readings from the devices demonstrated how factors such as heart rate vary throughout the day and that one reading, such as that taken during an annual doctor’s visit, may not provide the most accurate picture of a patient’s overall health.
One of the participants was monitored using seven different devices for two years. During this time, he had four periods in which his heart rate and skin temperature were unusually high. Three of these periods coincided with clinical symptoms such as congestion. Eventually the participant was diagnosed with Lyme disease, however the wearable was able to predict the disease before the patient had any major symptoms, according to Grace Peng, director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering program in computational modelling, simulation and analysis.
Three other participants became sick during the study period and their device recorded a heart-rate spike, enabling the research team to create an algorith, called Change-of-Heart, to identify possible illnesses based on when the heart rate deviated.
"It was incredibly exciting that we could actually detect illness using just a consumer wearable device," said Jessilyn Dunn, a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University and one of the lead authors on the paper, which was published in Plos Biology in January. Dunn says more work needs to be done to refine the algorithm and that it could not be used as a diagnostic tool yet, but it could help make wearers aware of the need to reduce stress levels, get more rest or see a doctor.
It also raises the possibility of wearable devices being used to identify the risk for other diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, and to monitor those living in rural or low-income areas who may not have easy access to medical services.
“There’s a really exciting potential for this type of technology to revolutionise the health care model,” Dunn said.
healthyliving@thenational.ae
