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Health trackers worn on wrist can detect Covid before symptoms, study finds

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Ishita Srivastava
Ishita SrivastavaJun 22, 2022 | 17:52

Health trackers worn on wrist can detect Covid before symptoms, study finds

Health trackers. Photo: Pexels

In a study published in the BMJ Open, researchers have been able to conclude that wrist-worn health trackers can be used to detect Covid-19 before the symptoms appear in the human body.

By being adapted with artificial intelligence, health trackers can easily detect Covid by detecting basic physiological changes such as respiratory rate, heart rate, HR variability, wrist-skin temperature and skin perfusion.

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These changes were recorded by the Ava-bracelet during the study. The Ava-bracelet is a popular fertility tracker that can be bought online to track the best time to conceive and tracks the same physiological changes, the researchers intended to track in the study.

Health trackers have usually been used by people to track skin temperature, heart and breathing rates.

A health tracker. Photo: Pexels

RESULTS: 1,163 participants from a national cohort study in Liechtenstein were involved in the study. All participants were under the age of 51 and the bracelets were synced with an app on the participants’ smartphone. Participants then recorded all their activities that could influence results.

Out of the 127 participants who tested Covid- positive, 66 wore their Ava-bracelets since the beginning of symptom onset. The researchers were able to record 1.5 million hours of physiological data.

With the researchers proposed RNN algorithm, 68% of Covid patients can be identified during the presymptomatic or symptom onset period.

Covid-19. Photo: Pexels

“Our research shows how these devices, partnered with artificial intelligence, can push the boundaries of personalised medicine and detect illnesses prior to (symptom occurrence), potentially reducing virus transmission in communities,” the researchers said

The proposed RNN algorithm is now being tested on 20,000 people in the Netherlands.

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Last updated: June 22, 2022 | 17:52
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