Wrist-worn trackers can detect Covid before symptoms, study finds
Growing numbers of people worldwide use the devices to monitor changes in skin temperature, heart and breathing rates. Now a new study shows that this data could be combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose Covid-19 even before the first tell-tale signs of the disease appear.
“Wearable sensor technology can enable Covid-19 detection during the presymptomatic period,” the researchers concluded. The findings were published in the journal BMJ Open.
The discovery could lead to health trackers being adapted with AI to detect Covid-19 early, simply by spotting basic physiological changes. This could help provide an early warning system to users that they may be infected, which may in turn help to prevent the spread of the disease more widely.
Researchers from the Dr Risch Medical Laboratory in Liechtenstein, the University of Basel in Switzerland, McMaster University in Canada and Imperial College London tested the Ava bracelet, a fertility tracker that people can buy online to track the best time to conceive. It monitors breathing rate, heart rate, heart rate variability, wrist skin temperature and blood flow.
