Smartwatches can detect Covid-19 in users, says new research

SMART watches and other wearable devices that measure signs like the heart rates of users, skin temperature and other physiological markers can predict whether an individual is positive for Covid-19 even before they develop the symptoms or the virus is detectable by tests, studies from renowned medical and academic institutions, including Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California have found.

According to experts, devices like the Apple Watch, Garmin and Fitbit watches wearable technology could play a vital role in curbing the current pandemic and other communicable diseases.

In a recent report by CBS News, researchers at Mount Sinai found that the Apple Watch can detect subtle changes in an individual’s heartbeat. This, they say could be a sign that an individual has the coronavirus, up to seven days before they feel sick or infection is detected through testing.

Medical evidence has shown that inflammation in infected areas of the body is one of the early signs of a COVID-19 infection is. This results in slight alteration blood flow that can be seen in slight changes to a person’s heartbeat which can be detected using smart watches like the one from Apple.

According to the CBS report, high heart rate variability does not mean the individual has an elevated heart rate, but an indication that the individual’s nervous system is active, adaptable and more resilient to stress.

To arrive at the current conclusion, investigators followed nearly 300 Mount Sinai health care workers who wore Apple Watches between April 29 and September 29, 2020, in a study that Apple did not fund nor partake in, despite knowing the capabilities of its watches.

According to experts, the data collected by smart watches could be instrumental in helping tame the virus, as recent studies have than more than half of COVID-19 cases are spread by asymptomatic carriers.

A separate study from Stanford, in which participants wore a variety of different activity trackers from Apple Watches and other makers, found that 81% of coronavirus-positive participants experienced changes in their resting heart rates up to nine and a half days prior to the onset of symptoms. An extremely elevated heart rate was indicative of symptom onset, 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 also has created an alarm system that alerts wearers that their heart rate has been elevated for a sustained period of time.

“We set the alarm with a certain sensitivity so it will go off every two months or so. Regular fluctuations won’t trigger the alarm. Only significant, sustained changes will,” Professor Michael Snyder of Stanford University who led the study said.

He said it is a big deal because it could be alerting people not to go out and meet people, and help compensate for some of the shortcomings with coronavirus testing.