Smart watch on your wrist may one day be key to fighting infections, such COVID-19 or the flu. A team from Stanford University, the research center of Scripps Research and corporations Fitbit suggested to use wearable devices as early detectors of illnesses. We developed algorithms that will detect signals of the immune system, such as increased heart rate and body temperature. And this is the opportunity to receive a warning at the earliest stages of the disease.
The project will be studied the data of five types of wearable devices, each of which is composed of a proprietary algorithm. Fitbit donates to the experiments, 1000 instances of smart watches. How quickly the initiative is implemented, will depend on the number of potential participants in the experiment.
The researchers already know the potential problems of the method. Because changes in heart rate and temperature can be caused by many innocuous everyday events. And algorithms will need to be able to recognize the difference.
Stanford Professor Michael Snyder said that wearable devices collect more than 250,000 measurements every day, and this data can be invaluable for understanding who, how and when sick. The full picture of infection in such a way not to collect, because only a small portion of the population owns any wearable gadget. However, the method can provide a more accurate picture of the outbreaks and foci of disease, which will help to mitigate the damage and to understand their properties.
Source — Stanford