In the early days of the pandemic, dozens of researchers launched studies to try to see if laptops of all kinds could potentially identify covid-19 before symptoms begin. In one such study, Mount Sinai researchers found that the Apple Watch was able to detect the appearance of covid-19 up to seven days before current test methods.
He to study, which was published in Journal of Medical Internet Research, studied the impact of covid-19 on several hundred health workers in the Mount Sinai health system between April and September last year. All participants wore an Apple Watch and answered daily symptom surveys using an app. The researchers observed changes in participants’ heart rate variability (HRV), which measures changes in heartbeat and is an indicator of the autonomic nervous system.
The interesting contribution of this particular study is that, first, subtle changes in a person’s HRV helped researchers identify and predict whether that person might be infected or have symptoms of covid-19 a week. before testing it with a nasal swab. This is great, as covid-19 can be contagious before symptoms manifest. So far, the weekend is one of the longest delivery times we’ve seen. Another problem was that HRV patterns returned to normal 7-14 days after diagnosis, to the point that they were not statistically different from uninfected participants.
“This technology allows us to not only track and predict health outcomes, but also to intervene in a timely and remote manner, which is essential during a pandemic that requires people to stay separate,” said the co-author of the study, Zahi Fayad, PhD. in a Press release.
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This is in line with the idea that portable equipment can be a useful tool for test selection as well as for potentially identifying diseases in pre-symptomatic stages. Several researchers have done the same identified HRV as a potential metric for detecting infections, while others have also pointed to respiratory rate and body temperature as potential signifiers. And while studies are currently being conducted with Apple Watch, Fitbits and Garmin devices, among others, the laptop that has received the most press in terms of the covid-19 is still Oura Ring. The Oura ring was what could be chosen for the NBA in its reopening efforts, and some promising preliminary research it was found that it could detect covid-19 up to three days before symptoms appeared with 90% accuracy. That being said, it should be remembered that, whatever title you read, none of the laptops mentioned are able to officially diagnose covid-19. Also, just because this study focused on the Apple Watch, doesn’t necessarily mean other laptops won’t be able to do the same.
It has also been about a year since many of these studies were launched and we will probably see some more published conclusions over the next few weeks and months. However, whatever findings come to light, consumers may not see the features of “early detection of disease” on their personal laptops. that pandemic. This would require some degree of FDA approval, which is usually a slow process. However, it is also possible that these findings help doctors better control future flu outbreaks or even remotely monitor patients.