Also Read: We are going after youth aspiring for Apple Watch: Fire-Boltt chief Photoplethysmography is often susceptible to external factors such as ambient light, pressure or motion.
So most studies seeking to use this method to detect COVID have focused on monitoring people during sleep. Electronics company Fitbit analysed the nocturnal respiratory rates of thousands of users of their devices to understand whether this measure could aid COVID detection.
They found that within a seven-day period (from one day before symptom onset, or one day before a positive test for participants without symptoms), a portion of people with COVID showed at least one measurement of elevated respiratory rate. Also Read: Top gadget deals you just can’t miss this The Big Billion Days sale Although this was detected in only roughly one-third of symptomatic COVID sufferers, and one-quarter of asymptomatic patients, this study suggests that commercial wearables could potentially be a non-invasive way to detect possible COVID infections and get them tested.
Another study looked at the potential of a fitness tracker by US brand WHOOP to predict COVID risk. Data on respiratory rate and other indicators of heart function from a group of people with COVID was used to train an algorithm to predict infection.