Technologies to help: smart watches and trackers
Fitbit fitness tracker data has allowed U.S. researchers at the Scripps Institute to refine the forecast for flu epidemics at the state level. The results of the study are published in The Lancet Digital Health.
The authors analyzed data from 200,000 users of Fitbit trackers, which measure the main indicators of health - heart rate, sleep quality - from March 2016 to March 2018. 47 thousand individuals, whose data in an impersonal form were involved in the study, while using Fitbit trackers constantly. By applying this data to information on influenza outbreaks over the past three weeks, a team of researchers led by epidemiologist Jennifer Reidin was able to predict influenza epidemics locally in real time. Currently, such information in the United States is collected and analyzed by the Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose forecasts are based on data from patients who have already consulted a doctor and are summarized with a delay of one to three weeks.
"When people are sick, their heart rate at rest usually speeds up, and so does their daily lives and sleep patterns, " says Dr. Reidin. " Data from portable electronics, which is already used by the majority of the population, can allow health authorities to detect outbreaks of influenza and influenza-like illness faster and more accurately than is possible in the current situation."
According to experts, fitness trackers and smart watches are now used by about 30% of the US population. With the development of portable electronics, new sensors are emerging that monitor blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, and may soon be able to detect cough. "Subject to round-the-clock access to data from these devices, -says Dr. Reidin, " at some point we will be able to detect the incidence rate to the day, not the week."
Read also: Individual approach and self-realization: how people with disabilities work at McDonald
The authors analyzed data from 200,000 users of Fitbit trackers, which measure the main indicators of health - heart rate, sleep quality - from March 2016 to March 2018. 47 thousand individuals, whose data in an impersonal form were involved in the study, while using Fitbit trackers constantly. By applying this data to information on influenza outbreaks over the past three weeks, a team of researchers led by epidemiologist Jennifer Reidin was able to predict influenza epidemics locally in real time. Currently, such information in the United States is collected and analyzed by the Government Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whose forecasts are based on data from patients who have already consulted a doctor and are summarized with a delay of one to three weeks.
"When people are sick, their heart rate at rest usually speeds up, and so does their daily lives and sleep patterns, " says Dr. Reidin. " Data from portable electronics, which is already used by the majority of the population, can allow health authorities to detect outbreaks of influenza and influenza-like illness faster and more accurately than is possible in the current situation." According to experts, fitness trackers and smart watches are now used by about 30% of the US population. With the development of portable electronics, new sensors are emerging that monitor blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, and may soon be able to detect cough. "Subject to round-the-clock access to data from these devices, -says Dr. Reidin, " at some point we will be able to detect the incidence rate to the day, not the week."
Read also: Individual approach and self-realization: how people with disabilities work at McDonald