In one of the Mount Sinai Studies, the Apple Watch was used to track slight shifts in heartbeat that are associated with an infection’s onset such as Coronavirus. The parameter could be used to calculate how well the immune system functions. Up to 7 days before people start getting sick or a positive COVID-19 test arrives, they found the Watch could predict the disease. There would be lower heart rate variability in people infected with the covid-19.
Rob Hirten- an assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told CBS that their aim was to put tools into implementation to diagnose infections while they are currently present in the body, or even before the appearance of any signs. Through Smartwatch data, researchers were able to diagnose two-thirds of the coronavirus cases in between 4-7 days before the onset of any symptoms. They have also built an alarm system that alarms wearers if their heart rate has been at a high rate for a long time.
Professor Michael Snyder of Stanford University told CBS that they have designed the alarm with a certain sensitivity, every two months or so it will go away. The alarm will not be activated by daily variations, only major, sustained changes.
However, Mount Sinai’s analysis is not the only study of COVID-19 involving wearable devices. A separate Stanford research that was published in Nature in November was also highlighted by CBS. Apple Watches and other Apple competitors’ wearables, including Garmin and Fitbit, were worn by 5,000 participants in that report of which 32 were detected positive for covid-19. Researchers found that 81% of the people diagnosed with the virus exhibited changes in their resting heart rates until 9.5 days before the symptoms appeared.
The capacity of a wearable system to catch COVID-19 before symptoms arise would not turn it into a substitute PCR test. Although, in order to prove the accuracy of the data and develop protocols to allow Apple Watches and other wearables to play a role in COVID-19 research, further studies will be needed.
If such features are available on devices in the future, they may be enough to alert certain individuals about the presence of the infection.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
