Apple Watch may detect Covid-19 before symptoms appear, new study finds



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A new study has shown that Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin and other devices can detect Covid-19 even before the wearer knows they are infected.

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Smartwatches are increasingly effective as health monitoring devices, with the latest models offering measurements such as blood oxygen level measurements (and blood oxygen levels can be a factor). useful indicator at this time as they are related to Covid19).

But a new study from the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, reported by CBS News, found that smartwatches capable of continuously or frequently monitoring heart rate can detect subtle changes in a wearer’s heart rate. These changes can signal that the carrier has Covid-19 as early as seven days before symptoms appear or infection can be detected during testing. The study followed nearly 300 Mount Sinai healthcare workers with Apple watches between April 29 and September 29, 2020. Apple did not participate or fund the study.

Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said: “Our goal was to use tools to identify infections at the time of infection or before people know they are they were sick. We already knew about this heart. The markers of rate variability change as inflammation grows in the body, and Covid is an incredibly inflammatory event. It allows us to predict that people are infected even before they get infected. the knowledge. “

The study showed that the variability in heart rate, that is, the variation in time between heartbeats, was different in people with Covid-19 compared to those without.

High heart rate variability does not mean high heart rate. This indicates that an individual’s nervous system is active, adaptable, and more resistant to stress.

All of this is important because it appears more than half of Covid-19 cases are spread by asymptomatic carriers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If a carrier can learn that they have Covid-19, even without showing symptoms, they can be careful to self-isolate.

One of the great things about devices like the Apple Watch is that they are always on the owner’s wrist, providing a constant and effortless means of data collection – the watch does all the work of data recovery, no input. is required from the wearer.

There have been other studies, including one from Stanford University and one from Fitbit, which also aim to find indications of Covid-19 as soon as possible.

The next step will be for the cellphone to inform the wearer of the indications discovered. While the thought of your watch being able to tell you that you have Covid-19 is not a pleasant thought, your friends and relatives spared by you by passing the disease to them might be very grateful to you.


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