A study found that smartwatches have been able to detect physical abnormalities in wearers infected with COVID-19 (Chinese Communist Virus) for an average of seven days before the wearers felt they were experiencing symptoms.
A team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS) in New York conducted an experiment on 297 healthcare workers by having them wear Apple’s smartwatch throughout the day and then collecting their data for analysis.
One early symptom of being infected by the CCP virus is inflammation at the infected site, according to the study. Inflammation in the body changes the pattern of blood flow, which in turn affects slight changes in heart rate. Smartwatches can detect these subtle changes.
After the user has worn the smartwatch long enough, the smartwatch will capture the curve of the wearer’s heart rate throughout the day and use this as a baseline for health. If there is even a slight change in heart rate patterns, the smartwatch can detect it and provide a warning.
The study found that two-thirds of health care workers infected with the CCP virus had their smartwatches reflect abnormalities in the wearer’s heart rate an average of seven days before they felt symptoms themselves.
The researchers say that if this pattern is used to develop an application specifically to monitor for CCP virus infection, smartwatches could serve as an effective tool to warn of infection, help wearers self-isolate early, and immediately participate in formal virus testing.
This study was recently published in the paper’s preprint network medRxiv.
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