Wearable technologies have long been examined for their viability in medical diagnosis, we've seen a few instances where Apple Watch has even saved lives.?
A new research now suggests that these can even help detect Covid-19 symptoms earlier than the regular diagnosis methods.
Conducted by researchers at Mount Sinai Hospital, new study says that wearables like the Apple Watch were able to identify Covid-19 presence in a person earlier than traditional diagnostic methods.
The research is based on findings from several hundred healthcare workers recruited throughout the Mount Sinai Health System as participants. Between April and September 2020, each of the participants were made to wear an Apple Watch and answer daily questions through a customized app.
Simultaneously, the researchers kept a daily track of the participants¡¯ health indicators. They mapped changes in participants' heart rate variability (HRV), and even tracked any symptoms including fever or chills, weakness, body aches, dry cough, sneezing, runny nose, diarrhoea, sore throat, headache, shortness of breath, loss of smell or taste and itchy eyes.
The study found out that "subtle changes" in participants' HRV were indicators of Covid-19 presence in participants. HRV readings through the Apple Watch thus proved to signal the onset of the disease well before any other diagnosis method.
The research has now been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. "This study highlights the future of digital health," says the study's corresponding author, Robert P. Hirten, MD. "Developing a way to identify people who might be sick even before they know they are infected would be a breakthrough in the management of Covid-19."
Interestingly, the research also hails the wearable technology as more than capable of monitoring patients remotely. The researchers observed that the HRV pattern of these patients began to normalize after 7 to 14 days of Covid-19 diagnosis. They were no longer statistically different from the patterns of those not infected.
Scientists will now use the wearable technology to determine its efficiency in detecting psychological effects of the pandemic on the healthcare workers.
(With inputs from AFP)