The Lancet Digital Health newspaper says a study found that wearables from Fitbit can help you understand when a flu outbreak is about to arrive. This will certainly be a feature that almost nobody would expect to be able to develop.
The study was carried out in several North American states, covering a universe of more than 47 thousand users. The conclusions also say that this method is more effective than those currently used to prevent this disease. A somewhat bold statement.
Fitbit combines your heart rate and sleep monitoring for such conclusions
The starting point for predicting whether you are on the verge of catching the flu is your heartbeat and the quality of your sleep. Features that any similar device is able to monitor.
The alert is given when there is an average heart rate above normal and the quality of your sleep is not below expectations. These data were then compared with estimates released by the US Center for Disease Control.
Currently, any device of its kind with a sports emphasis is able to collect the referred data. This leaves us wondering if this may require a special algorithm for this purpose or if simply no one has yet thought of it.
Conclusions are promising, but more studies should be done
After this study was published, a specialist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has already made some considerations. The latter states that physical activity monitoring devices do have potential in predicting diseases, but more studies should be carried out.
It is difficult to measure how reliable these data are, especially when we do not have many reports of such events. The Apple Watch is already a credible device for tracking heart disease, but that credibility was not built overnight.
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