Smartwatch: "Smartwatches" can warn of the flu

The fashion of specialized "watches" that measure steps and minutes of sleep, can become a predictive tool for the occurrence of flu, according to a US study.

Έwho used data from 47.000 people in the United States found that heart rate and sleep data from portable sports performance watches can also predict and warn of the flu in real time.

The study used data from more than 47.000 "smartwatch" users in five US states.

The results, published in The Lancet Digital Health magazine, show that data usage from these portable gadgets has improved and accelerated the prognosis for influenza outbreaks.

The World Health Organization estimates that 650.000 people worldwide die from seasonal flu-related respiratory illnesses each year. The classic flu monitoring report lasts up to three weeks, which means that treatment measures - such as getting vaccines or antiviral drugs and advising patients to stay home - can often be delayed.

"Faster response to influenza cases could prevent further spread, and we're curious to see if data from the clocks could improve real-time monitoring," said Jennifer Radin, who participated in the study at the Foundation. US Scripp Translation Translation.

Previous studies using a wealth of data from sources such as Google Flu Trends and Twitter have not been completely successful because, as experts say, it is impossible to separate the behavior of people living with the flu from people searching online to be informed about the virus and the outbreak of the epidemic.

For this study, Radin's team analyzed data from 200.000 people whose "clocks" recorded physical activity, heart rate, and sleep for at least 60 days during the study period (March 2016 to March 2018). Of the 200.000, 47.248 users from California, Texas, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania consistently wore a "watch" during that period. The mean age was 43 years and 60% were women.

During the study, users' heart rate during rest hours and sleep duration were monitored. These two indicators were characterized as abnormal if the average weekly heart rate was significantly higher than their individual average overall rate and if their weekly average sleep was not below the overall average. These data were compared with the weekly reports of the US Centers for Disease Control for influenza-like illnesses.

Rosalind Eggo, a public health specialist at the London School of Health and Tropical Medicine, said the study shows that fitness tracking gadgets are a promising disease monitoring tool. However, he said more research is needed to assess how reliable this data is over time, how relevant it is to the flu outbreak and how representative the sample of people wearing a "smart watch" is to draw conclusions about the whole. of the population.

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