Smartwatches collect a lot of information about our physiology. Their technology is being used in a way that has never been done before.
Patrick Schoettker, chief anaesthesiologist at CHUV University Hospital, is well-aware of the potential complications that can arise from a prolonged general anesthetic procedure.
The patient may experience shock as a result of rapid blood loss from the surgical site, resulting in dangerous dips in blood flow throughout the body. However, prolonged deep sedation can also result in severe lung problems, which accounts for a quarter of all surgical deaths within the first six days.
Tragedies of this nature occasionally occur as a result of undetected underlying physiologic weaknesses in the patient. But what if there was a quick and inexpensive way for hospitals to check for them before major procedures?
Schoettker and his colleagues are running a trial in which patients are fitted with a smartwatch called the Masimo W1 several weeks before their pre-op consultation. The information it has gathered is then used to determine their health status.
The W1 gives accurate, continuous readings of the heart rate, respiration rate, blood oxygen level, pulse rate, and even hydration levels. Schoettker believes that the layers of information could save lives and compares them to a “digital twin.”
According to Schoettker, “We plan to use this pre-operatively acquired data to predict possible pre- or post-operative complications and act on them in a way that prevents them.”
This is just one illustration of the bold new era of preventative health that is being opened up by the expanding smartwatch market. Some analysts have predicted that more than 400 million devices will be sold worldwide by 2027. Watches developed by Masimo, Apple, Samsung, Withings, FitBit, Polar, and Samsung are all capable of recording an extraordinary amount of data. This enables real-time tracking of measurements like sleep quality, blood pressure, heart rhythm variation, and blood oxygen saturation levels, which are a indicator of how well the heart and lungs are functioning.
Getty Images Some smartwatches can identify Parkinson’s disease’s early symptoms up to seven years before the disease is diagnosed. Getty Images)Getty Images Some smartwatches can identify Parkinson’s disease’s early symptoms up to seven years before the disease is diagnosed. Getty Images) Gosia Wamil, a consultant cardiologist at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London, claims that this information is already assisting in assisting in assisting in assisting in assisting doctors in assisting them in identifying potential health issues and enabling them to act sooner.
According to Wamil, “Patients are willing to use their smartwatches to obtain some data and then bring the printouts and results to us.” And then we can continue our investigation and verify those abnormalities.”
Until now, the health of the heart has been a major application. In April of this year, a study found that in otherwise healthy 50- to 70-year-olds, smartwatch-acquired electrocardiogram (ECG) measurements, which are readings of the electrical activity of the heart, could reliably identify additional heart beats. This can be an admonition indication of a substantially more difficult condition, atrial fibrillation, where the heart begins pulsating unpredictably or advancing wild all of a sudden.
