Connected clocks help predict flu outbreaks
A study in the United States states that heart rate and sleep data collected by wearable devices such as smart watches can more accurately predict and alert health officials about flu outbreaks than current methods.
The study used data from more than 47,000 users of Fitbit watches in five U.S. states. The results were published in the scientific journal The Lancet Digital Health and show that with device data, predictions about flu outbreaks can be improved and accelerated.
The World Health Organization estimates that about 650,000 people worldwide die from respiratory diseases linked to flu outbreaks each year.
Traditional methods take up to three weeks to detect new outbreaks, which means that responses, such as vaccine availability and prevention campaigns, often take a long time to trigger.
The quickest response to outbreaks of influenza can prevent spread and infection and we were curious to see if the sensor data can improve real-time monitoring, said Jennifer Radin, who led the study no.the U.S. Scripps Research Translational Institute.
Previous studies that used data from multiple sources, such as Google Flu Trends and Twitter, have had mixed success, in part because it is impossible to separate the behavior of people with the flu from those who search online for it during times of campaigns to spread prevention alerts, they said. the scientists.
Rosalind Eggo, public health specialist at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, stated that the research indicates that physical monitoring bracelets are promising as a disease monitoring tool.
But she said that more work needed to measure how reliable these data are over time, how specific are these flu measurements and how representative are Fitbit users among the entire population.
