More and more people are monitoring their temperature, heart rate and breathing with a health tracker or smartwatch. According to a new study, this data, together with an algorithm, can diagnose Covid-19 before the first symptoms appear. The Guardian writes about this.
“Wearable sensor technology can detect Covid-19 in the presymptomatic period,” researchers conclude in their paper, published in the scientific journal BMJ Open. The discovery could lead to modified trackers that can detect corona based on physiological changes. This way people are warned in time and they can prevent themselves from spreading the virus.
The researchers from the Swiss University of Basel and Imperial College London, among others, tested an Ava bracelet, a fertility tracker that people wear to determine the best time to get pregnant. The bracelet monitors breathing rate, heart rate, heart rate variability (the difference in time between heartbeats), wrist temperature and circulation.
Cheap method
Nearly 1,200 people, up to 51 years old, were tracked from the start of the pandemic to April 2021. At night they wore the Ava bracelet. The data was synchronized with an app in which people kept track of alcohol and drug use, as well as possible corona symptoms such as fever. In the meantime, the participants regularly took a corona test. Corona was diagnosed in 127 people, 66 of whom wore the bracelet for at least 29 days in a row.
The researchers found significant changes in the body during the incubation period of the virus, when there were no symptoms yet. In two thirds of the cases, the algorithm in combination with the health tracker was able to correctly predict who had corona two days before the first symptoms.
“Wearable sensor technology is an easy and inexpensive method for people to monitor their own health during the pandemic. Our research shows that combined with artificial intelligence, these trackers can detect corona earlier and thus prevent the spread of the virus,” said the researchers.
The algorithm and the health tracker are now being tested in a much larger group of 20,000 people in the Netherlands.