The Skepticism Surrounding Wearable Health Tech in Medicine
In recent years, wearable technology, particularly smartwatches, has emerged as a multi-billion dollar industry focused on health tracking. These devices offer features to monitor various health indicators such as heart rate, body temperature, menstrual cycles, and sleep patterns. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has even proposed using wearables for NHS patients in England to monitor symptoms from home, highlighting the potential benefits of these technologies.
Despite these advancements, many healthcare professionals express caution regarding the reliability of data obtained from these devices. For instance, the Oura smart ring provides users with health reports that can be shared with doctors, but not all physicians find this information beneficial. Dr. Jake Deutsch, a clinician advising Oura, believes wearable data can improve health assessments, yet others like Dr. Helen Salisbury question their overall usefulness, noting they may contribute to a culture of hypochondria and over-monitoring. Dr. Salisbury emphasizes that abnormal data can arise from various factors, and reliance on wearables could lead patients to seek unnecessary medical consultations based on their device alerts.
Additionally, while wearables advocate for healthier habits, many of the guidelines they promote are longstanding advice from doctors, such as maintaining a healthy weight and regular exercise. As the competition intensifies, particularly the sales of popular devices like the Apple Watch, the notion of relying on these gadgets for critical health insights grows. Apple markets the Watch with stories of lives saved by its heart monitoring capabilities, yet the occurrence of false positives remains underreported.
In clinical settings, doctors often prefer to take measurements with their equipment over the data provided by wearables, which can be influenced by movement and battery life practicality. For example, while watches can track ECG, the wearable devices are not continuously powered, leading to less accurate results. Dr. Yang Wei highlights that measurement accuracy relies heavily on the position and consistency of the device; data from a finger may not be as precise compared to directly measuring from the heart or wrist.
Yet, the pitfalls of wearables are evident in specific instances. An example includes notifications sent from an Apple Watch that falsely suggested a car crash, showcasing that while notifications can be lifesaving, they can also create confusion over serious alerts versus normal activities.
Pritesh Mistry from the Kings Fund acknowledges the ongoing challenges of incorporating patient-generated data from wearables into healthcare systems. He notes the lack of clear infrastructure and trained personnel is a significant barrier, even as the UK government seeks to enhance community care through technology.
In conclusion, while wearable technology holds promise for monitoring health and enhancing patient engagement, significant concerns about data accuracy, patient anxiety, and the integration of this data into healthcare systems remain largely unresolved.