Medical Xpress September 30, 2021
Someday, your smartwatch might be able to tell you if you’re coming down with a virus and how sick you’ll be—even before symptoms start.
In a small study, researchers showed that a wearable device, like a Fitbit or Apple Watch, could detect which patients had the H1N1 flu and which had a common cold.
“One of our goals was to be able to detect that infection before a person feels symptoms, because they may be spreading pathogens without even knowing that they’re sick,” explained senior researcher Jessilyn Dunn, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University in Durham, N.C.
The wristband does this by reading biological signs, including resting heart rate, heart rate variability and skin temperature, she said.
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