A smartwatch could help you watch out for the coronavirus.
An elevated heart rate could be a sign of infection, and tracking those changes using a smartwatch could be an early indicator of the coronavirus, some studies are seeking to determine.
“Resting heart rate is a really valuable marker and that’s something that over 100 million Americans have — a smartwatch or wrist heart rate detector,” said Dr. Eric Topol, executive vice president of Scripps Research in a recent video series with WebMD.
Scripps Research is conducting a study that aims to determine if tracking changes in heart rate, activity and sleep using a smartwatch can provide an early indication of a viral illness like COVID-19.
Topol and colleagues published a paper in January that showed Fitbit data on heart rate and sleep significantly improved influenza predictions.
“Acute infections can cause an individual to have an elevated resting heart rate and change their routine daily activities due to the physiological response to the inflammatory insult,” the study said.
Now, the new app and accompanying study called Detect can capitalize on donated data of smartwatch users to help offer clues about primary indicators of the coronavirus.
“We can likely pinpoint where clusters of people with resting heart elevation are starting to appear before an outbreak has gotten to any significant extent,” said Topol.
Topol said the help of technology can speed up research and fill in some gaps where human capital is timely and expensive.
“We are trying to pick things up very early,” said Topol.
Several other studies aimed at harnessing the power of smartwatches are in motion across the country.
A project at Duke University in North Carolina investigates if the data from a smartphone or watch can help determine whether or not someone has a COVID-19 infection, and how severe the infection is expected to be.
Participants can use a FitBit or Garmin device and must answer survey questions every day for 30 days and then every week for two months.
At Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab in California, study participants are asked to wear a smartwatch continuously for up to two years and fill out a daily symptom survey.
Researchers are trying to establish if data collected from the device can be used to predict the onset of an infectious disease such as the coronavirus before the actual symptoms start.
The data they collect includes heart rate, skin temperature and blood oxygen saturation.