In the medical field, wearables can be useful for Diagnostic purposes, Monitoring purposes, and; to some extent, be a part of treatment modalities for certain diseases.
The history of wearables can be dated back to centuries ago when human beings tried to use wristwatches and hearing aids. The first advanced scientific wearable was seen around the year 1970 in the form of calculator wristwatches. Real momentum for wearables picked up after the introduction of smartwatches around 2013. Since 2013, smart watches, smart glasses, and smart wristbands have been the most commonly used wearables by the population for their health care needs.
The Covid pandemic provided valuable insights regarding improvements and advancements needed in the existing smartwatches. The current generation of smartwatches has features that include monitoring of heart rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, ECG, sleep quality, step count, and calorie count. With multiple parameters being added to the current generation of smartwatches, the concepts of QUANTIFIED SELF, BODY HACKING, or SELF SURVEILLANCE are gaining recognition. Let us understand how wearables can have an impact on healthcare; both positive and negative.
The biggest advantage of using wearables is that it inculcates a sense of responsibility in a person towards his health. Being aware and obsessed about one’s own health parameters helps a person plan his or her lifestyle goals. Wearables also serve as a medium to impart some basic health care information to a common man as to what are the normal ranges for various health parameters of the human body. In many cases, it helps a person to seek medical help when required. Apart from being helpful to the general population, in carefully selected scenarios, it serves as an important support system even for doctors in treating their patients. We discuss a few important health conditions and how wearables can serve for the betterment of patients.
Impact on Cardiovascular Health
Monitoring of Heart rate is very important for patients suffering from cardiac problems. Wearables help detect abnormalities in heart rate and help alarming the person to seek medical attention on time. In advanced smart watches, heart rate when combined with ECG monitoring can help diagnose life-threatening arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythm) and can be lifesaving in such scenarios. Blood Pressure monitoring is a feature available in the current generation of smartwatches which is very useful to patients suffering from Hypertension. Round-the-clock blood pressure control helps prevent heart attacks, strokes (paralysis), and renal failure in the future. Understanding the blood pressure patterns of a patient can help the doctor time the medicine intake for the patient.
Impact on Diabetes
Diabetes Mellitus is the modern global pandemic. Glucose monitoring is central to understanding and planning the treatment needs of any patient. Glucose fluctuations are also very common in diabetic patients. Glucose monitoring through wearables can be a great boon to both; the patient and the doctor. Blood sugar patterns can help doctors give accurate insulin dosage to the patient. Tight sugar control can prevent blindness by preventing diabetic retinopathy; also reduces the chances of suffering from kidney failure and heart attacks in the future. Smartwatches and Microneedle-based skin patches are two available wearables for blood glucose monitoring.
Impact on Lung Diseases
During the COVID-19 pandemic, blood oxygen saturation monitoring gained importance in the minds of common people. A pulse oximeter was widely used during the pandemic for self-monitoring of blood oxygen levels (saturation). The current generation of smartwatches have oxygen saturation measuring capacities. It can help detect low blood oxygen levels and seek medical care on time. For patients suffering from chronic lung diseases, it can help in deciding the quantum of oxygen supplementation required at home for the patient.
This can help improve the quality of life of the patient and also prevent heart attacks due to low oxygen levels. Smart Masks help in detecting oxygen and carbon dioxide levels of the exhaled air, as well as levels of inflammatory markers in the exhaled air; allowing us to quantify the disease load in the lungs.
Impact on Eye Diseases
Wearable lenses are a breakthrough in managing certain eye diseases. Smart lenses have inbuilt microelectronic processing units that measure the intraocular pressure. This is very helpful in treating Glaucoma and improving the quality of life of the patient with Glaucoma.
Impact on Brain Disorders
Seizure Alerting Wearable is another research product in the pipeline. Complex data regarding brain activity are collected and analyzed using the seizure alerting wearable. A timely alert message or SOS message is sent to the patient, relative, or the treating doctor alerting before the onset of the seizure. Real-time EEG recording can also be possible by these devices. This helps in preventing the seizure by intervening in time. Wearable caps are also devised for patients with Parkinsonism. Continued data collection by the wearable from the brain of Parkinson’s patients can be useful to the doctor in planning the treatment modalities for the patient. Extensive feedback data collected from the wearables in bedridden patients can be utilized to create an improved quality of life for these patients.
Impact on Psychiatric Disorders
Virtual Reality (VR) based wearable devices are being successfully used for treating PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The creation of different scenarios by VR headsets is used for the above process. VR devices are also useful for relaxing the mind and decreasing stress levels thus improving mental health.
There are certain drawbacks of wearables that are worth understanding. The quality of software used, standardization of the hardware and software, and accuracy of the data collected can vary in cases. False diagnoses and false alarms can also be a problem. Device failures can cause missing out on valuable health information. People should realize that wearables are to be used as a support system for health improvement and not as a replacement for classic human-human interaction between a doctor and a patient. They are just one of the many devices that are present in today’s healthcare system. Ultimately a human touch is always needed for healing.
About the author: Dr Mayur Manji Mewada is the Associate Professor and Unit Head, Department of Medicine at KJSMC, Mumbai.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of Healthcare Radius.
