A smartwatch can signal physiological changes, such as a change in red blood cell count, as well as early signs of dehydration, anemia and illness, according to a new study led by researchers at Stanford Medicine.
Have you ever wondered if your wearable device might one day be powerful enough to rival laboratory blood tests from the doctor’s office?
Our latest publication in the May 24th issue of Nature Medicine demonstrates that wearable data such as heart rate, body temperature, electrodermal activity, and movement correlate with clinical biochemical and cellular measurements. For example, participants with rising temperature and decreased body movement also had increased immune cell counts, indicating inflammation.
Researchers also found that the data collected from wearable devices predict physiological changes better than clinical tests because of their continuous monitoring ability. A more accurate baseline arose from the longitudinal wearable data than from infrequent measurements taken at the clinic.
Dr. Michael Snyder expressed that while data from wearable devices are not sufficient for disease diagnosis, they can be an excellent augmentation to current healthcare by providing accurate monitoring to one’s overall well-being.
This exciting, cutting-edge work from scientists at the Stanford Healthcare Innovation Lab demonstrates the potential clinical capabilities of widespread commercial health monitoring tools. Millions of people worldwide already wear smartwatches and other wearable devices. Transforming them into cheap and accurate health monitoring tools has the potential to make healthcare more accessible.
