Smart watches and other portable 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 like the Apple Watch, Garmin and Fitbit watches can predict whether an individual is positive for COVID-19 even before they are symptomatic or whether the virus can be detected by testing, according to studies from major medical and academic institutions, including Mount Sinai Health System of New York and Stanford University. in California. Experts say portable technology could play a vital role in stopping the pandemic and other communicable diseases.
Subtle heartbeat changes
Researchers at Mount Sinai found that the Apple Watch can detect subtle changes in a person’s heartbeat, which may indicate that a person has coronavirus for up to seven days before feeling unwell or detecting the infection. through testing.
“Our goal was to use tools to identify infections at the time of the infection or before people knew they were sick,” said Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai, New York. author of the Warrior Watch study.
Specifically, the study looked at a metric called heart rate variability (the variation in time between each heartbeat), which is also a measure of how a person’s immune system works.
“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 are infected before they know it.”
The study found that people with COVID-19 experienced lower heart rate variability or, in other words, little time variation between heartbeats, in contrast to COVID-negative individuals.
The high variability of heart rate does not reflect high heart rate: it indicates that an individual’s nervous system is active, adaptable, and more resistant to stress.
Investigators followed about 300 Mount Sinai health workers who wore Apple watches between April 29 and September 29.
Apple did not participate in or fund the study, but is aware of the capabilities of its watches. Tim Cook promoted the role of the clock in the Mount Sinai studio in September.
Data collected by smartwatches could be critical in helping to domesticate the virus, as more than half of coronavirus cases are transmitted by asymptomatic carriers, according to a model of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released last week.
“Right now, we have people who say they’re sick and they don’t feel well, but wearing an Apple Watch doesn’t require any active user input and can identify people who may be asymptomatic. It’s a way to control better. infectious diseases “. Hirten said.
Early warning
A separate Stanford study, in which participants carried several activity trackers from Garmin, Fitbit, Apple, and other manufacturers, found that 81% of participants with positive coronaviruses experienced changes in resting heart rate for up to nine days. and half before until the onset of symptoms. An extremely high heart rate was indicative of the onset of symptoms, according to the study.
The 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 group of more than 5,000 participants.
The team has also created an alarm system that warns users that their heart rate has risen over a sustained period of time.
“We set the alarm with a certain sensitivity to sound every two months or so,” said Stanford University professor Michael Snyder, who led the study. “Regular fluctuations will not trigger the alarm, only significant and sustained changes.”
“It’s a big problem because it alerts people so they don’t go out to meet people,” he added. When he recently blew the alarm Snyder, for example, canceled a face-to-face meeting in case it could be infectious.
This technology could also help make up for some of the shortcomings of coronavirus testing, Snyder said. “The problem is you can’t do it to people all the time, while these devices measure you 24/7. The smartwatch returns your data to you immediately, in real time, while if you’re lucky, you’ll get your test in a few days “.
Portable device manufacturers are also studying how the technology could be used to fight the virus. Oura Health, which makes a smart ring that tracks health data, helped fund a study by the University of California at San Diego and the University of California at San Francisco that found the device can detect subtle symptoms, such as early onset of fever, that may indicate COVID-19. .
Whoop, which manufactures a sleep monitoring device, has partnered with the Australian University of Central Queensland to write a peer-reviewed article indicating that its technology may help predict coronavirus infections based on deviations in respiratory rate. users during night sleep. Healthy people experienced little variability in their airway frequencies, while deviations suggest a compromise of airway health.
“All these studies are open that markers of physiological function collected in devices allow us to identify these conditions and diseases in a non-invasive way, “Hirten said.” They all have limitations but they complement each other. “