Smartwatches and other wearable devices that continuously measure users’ heart rate, skin temperature, and other physiological markers can help detect coronavirus infections days before a person is diagnosed.
Devices such as the Apple WatchCan Garmin and Fitbit watches predict if a person is positive for COVID-19 even before they are symptomatic or if the virus is detectable by tests, according to studies from leading medical and academic institutions, including Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California. Experts say wearable technology can play a vital role in containing the pandemic and other communicable diseases.
Subtle heart rate changes
Researchers at Mount Sinai found that the Apple Watch can detect subtle changes in a person’s heart rate, which can indicate that a person has the coronavirus, up to seven days before they feel sick or an infection is detected through testing.
“Our goal was to use tools to identify infections at the time of infection or before people knew they were sick,” said Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. and author of the Warrior Watch study.
Specifically, the study analyzed a metric called heart rate variability – the variation in time between each heartbeat – that is also a measure of how well a person’s immune system is working.
“We already knew that markers of heat rate variability change as inflammation develops in the body, and Covid is an incredibly inflammatory event,” Hirten told CBS MoneyWatch. “It allows us to predict that people will be infected before they know it.”
Subjects with COVID-19 experienced lower heart rate variability, or, in other words, little variation in time between beats, unlike COVID-negative subjects, the study found.
A high heart rate variability does not reflect an increased heart rate: it indicates that a person’s nervous system is active, adaptable, and more resistant to stress.
Researchers tracked nearly 300 health workers in Mount Sinai wearing Apple Watches between April 29 and September 29.
Apple did not participate in or fund the research, but is aware of the capabilities of its watches. Tim Cook praised the watch’s role in the investigation of Mount Sinai in September.
The data collected by smartwatches could be helpful in taming the virus, as more than half of coronavirus cases are spread by asymptomatic carriers, according to a model from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published last week.
“Right now, we rely on people who say they are sick and don’t feel well, but wearing an Apple Watch doesn’t require active user input and can identify people who may be asymptomatic. It’s a way to better prevent infectious diseases. get under control “said Hirten.
Early warning
A separate study from Stanford, in which participants wore different activity trackers from Garmin, Fitbit, Apple and other makers, found that 81% of coronavirus-positive participants experienced changes in their resting heart rate up to nine and a half days before. until the onset of symptoms. An extremely elevated heart rate was indicative of the onset of symptoms, the study reported.
Researchers used smartwatch data to identify nearly two-thirds of COVID-19 cases four to seven days before people showed symptoms, according to the study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering in November. The study examined data from 32 people who tested positive for the virus from a pool of more than 5,000 participants.
The team has also created an alarm system that warns wearers that their heart rates have been elevated for a sustained period of time.
“We set the alarm with a certain sensitivity so that it goes off about every two months,” said Professor Michael Snyder of Stanford University, who led the study. “Regular fluctuations won’t trigger the alarm – only significant, sustained changes will.”
“It’s a big deal because it warns people not to go out to meet people,” he added. For example, when Snyder’s alarm went off recently, he canceled a face-to-face meeting in case he was contagious.
Such technology could also help offset some of the shortcomings of coronavirus testing, Snyder said. “The problem is that you can’t always do it to people, while these devices measure you 24/7. The smartwatch gives you the data right back, in real time, while if you’re lucky you can test back in a few days.”
Wearable device manufacturers are also looking at how the technology can be used to fight the virus. Oura Health, which creates a smart ring that tracks health data, helped fund a study from the University of California San Diego and the University of California San Francisco that found the device can detect subtle symptoms, such as the early onset of a fever. which could indicate COVID-19.
Whoop, which makes a sleep tracking device, teamed up with Central Queensland University in Australia to write a peer-reviewed paper indicating that the technology can help predict coronavirus infections based on abnormalities in users’ respiratory rates during the night. sleep. Healthy individuals experienced little variability in their respiratory rates, while abnormalities suggested reduced respiratory health.
‘All these studies are coming in that markers of physiological function collected from devices allow us to identify these conditions and diseases in a non-invasive way, “said Hirten.” They all have limitations, but they complement each other. “