Summary:
Smartwatches can detect infections before symptoms appear, and if people followed their watch’s advice to isolate, disease transmission could be significantly reduced.

Takeaways:

  1. Smartwatches detect infections early by monitoring physiological changes like heart rate and sleep patterns.
  2. A mathematical model suggests that reducing social contact by 66% after smartwatch detection could cut transmission by nearly 50%.
  3. Early detection through wearables could help prevent future outbreaks, reducing the need for lockdowns.

Your smartwatch can probably tell that you are sick before you can—and if everyone followed their watch’s advice to self-isolate, incipient epidemics could be stopped in their tracks, according to a study. 

Smartwatches as COVID Fighters

During the early days of COVID-19, research showed that 44% of infections were spread before people even felt sick, making early detection critical for stopping outbreaks. Recent studies have demonstrated that smartwatches can detect infections before symptoms appear by picking up subtle physiological changes, such as shifts in heart rate, sleep patterns, activity levels, and skin temperature. Using machine learning, these signals can help identify infections early and prompt individuals to reduce contact with others, slowing disease spread.

Mathematical Detection Model

To explore the potential impact, Dan Yamin and colleagues developed a mathematical model to estimate how smartwatch-based detection could help control the spread of COVID-19 and influenza. Their findings suggest that if smartwatch detection led infected individuals to reduce their social contacts by 66%, transmission risk could be reduced by nearly 50% for COVID-19 and pandemic influenza. In some scenarios, if social contact was reduced even further, certain COVID-19 variants and influenza strains could be eliminated entirely.

The model indicated that earlier detection played a greater role than contact reduction alone in limiting outbreaks. According to the authors, the research highlights the potential of smartwatches in managing infectious diseases. By identifying infections sooner and prompting timely action, wearable technology could help contain future outbreaks, reduce the need for lockdowns, and even prevent pandemics before they start, the authors suggest.

Featured Image: A recent study found that smartwatches could be used to help monitor health, particularly in the wake of a pandemic. Image: Natali Tamir