Apple Watch could detect coronavirus infection days before tests

In some cases, portable devices such as Apple Watch or Fitbit devices can predict a COVID-19 infection even before a user becomes symptomatic or the virus is detectable by standard tests, according to studies by a number of leading medical institutions (via CBS News).

Medical researchers from Mount Sinai Health System in New York, for example, found that the Apple Watch can detect subtle changes in a user’s heart rate up to seven days before an infection can be detected through testing.

The Mount Sinai study analyzed the variation in time between heartbeats, a measure known as heart rate variability. According to researchers, it is a good measure of how a person’s immune system works.

“We already knew that the variable markers of the heartbeat change as inflammation develops in the body, and that Covid is an incredible inflammatory event. It allows us to predict that people are infected before they know it,” said Rob Hirten. , the author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine on Mount Sinai.

Regarding COVID-19, people infected with the disease experience a lower heart rate variability compared to those who tested negative. The study followed 300 health workers on Mount Sinai who wore Apple Watches for five months.

In particular, Apple highlighted the Mount Sinai study during its Apple Watch and iPad-focused “Time Flies” event on September 15, 2020.

Another study from Stanford University in California looked at a variety of activity and fitness trackers from Apple, Fitbit, Garmin and other manufacturers.

The research, published in Natural Biomedical Engineering, found that 81% of those who tested positive for coronavirus experienced changes in their heart rate.

Like the measure of heart rate variation, researchers found that the trackers could detect an infection up to nine and a half days before symptoms began.

According to Michael Snyder, a professor at Stanford University, one of the major benefits of portable trackers is that users wear them constantly throughout the day. It told Snyder that it could help remove the disadvantages of standard coronavirus testing.

“The problem [with testing] you can not do this all the time on people while these devices measure you 24/7. The smartwatch gives you the data back immediately, while you are happy to get your test back within a few days, ‘Snyder said. CBS.

The team also developed an alarm system that alerted users if their heart rate was increased for a long period of time. It can warn people to go out or meet others in person, because they can be contagious. All of this research can help medical staff and the public destroy coronavirus infections, as most cases are spread by asymptomatic people.

“Right now, we trust people to say they’m sick and not feeling well, but wearing an Apple Watch does not require any active user input and can identify people who may be asymptomatic. diseases better controlled, “Hirten said.