Smartwatches show promise for early disease detection

Most of us think of smartwatches as tools to keep tabs on our steps, sleep, or heart rate. But what if these devices could do more than just track wellness habits? What if they could give us a head start on stopping a pandemic before it spreads?

That possibility is closer than it sounds. A study published earlier this year shows that smartwatches can detect subtle signs of illness hours before a person even feels sick.

Scientists at Texas A&M University and Stanford University modeled how this kind of early detection could play a major role in slowing, or even stopping, the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19 or the flu.

Smartwatches sense symptoms early

Using a computational model, the research team found that smartwatches could reduce the risk of disease transmission by nearly 50 percent. Why? These devices can detect physical changes that occur before symptoms appear.

Dr. Martial Ndeffo-Mbah is an assistant professor in the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS), in the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences.

“Even before a person starts showing symptoms of disease, there are physiological changes that happen to their body – like an increase in temperature or a change in sleeping pattern – that are usually too subtle for a person to notice but that can be detected by a smartwatch,” he said.

The key is catching the infection early. If people get alerted by their smartwatch to potential illness, they can isolate, get tested, and reduce the chance of passing the disease to others.

Responding before symptoms hit

People often don’t act until they feel clearly sick – a delay that makes outbreaks harder to control.

“Research on influenza indicates that most people initiate treatment quite late, many days after the onset of symptoms, when they should ideally begin treatment before symptoms begin,” said Dr. Ndeffo-Mbah.

“Even in the presymptomatic stage, infected individuals are often contagious; studies have shown that as much as 44% of COVID-19 infections were transmitted by presymptomatic individuals.”

This delay in action makes it harder to control outbreaks. But smartwatches could change that by detecting symptoms early and making alerts personal and immediate.

Smartwatches bring personal warnings

Smartwatches could help people take public health guidelines more seriously. By turning early signs of illness into real-time alerts, they make the risk feel immediate, even if you feel fine.

“The protocols for COVID-19 included steps like isolating even after being in contact with someone who is sick, but many people tend to ignore that advice if they don’t feel sick themselves,” said Dr. Ndeffo-Mbah.

“With a smartwatch, you could find out in real time – with a high degree of accuracy – if you are starting to get ill, which would hopefully give you a stronger motivation to follow protocols.”

Dr. Ndeffo-Mbah noted that while the research focused on two specific respiratory diseases, there is a lot of potential to use smartwatches as a preventative tool for many other illnesses, including RSV.

“Whenever the immune system responds to infection, there will be physiological changes that a smartwatch could help detect.”

Smartwatches fill testing gaps

Testing is still critical. It gives people a definitive answer and helps track outbreaks. But smartwatches could help fill a major gap in testing behavior.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, at-home testing kits became very popular, which is a good thing because they’re a great public health tool,” said Dr. Ndeffo-Mbah.

People often use tests only when they feel sick or need to travel, and since they typically test just once, that’s not frequent enough to catch every infection – especially early ones.

“If you can seek treatment early, you may be able to prevent the worst symptoms from occurring, which is particularly important for high-risk and immunocompromised individuals.”

Wearables reshape public health

Getting people to follow health guidelines is never easy. Fatigue, inconvenience, and skepticism often get in the way.

“If you wake up in the morning and feel a little tired, you’re probably not going to assume that you need to get tested for COVID-19 or the flu, especially when some of the tests involve nose swabbing and other hassles,” said Dr. Ndeffo-Mbah.

Smartwatches may encourage testing and reduce contact before symptoms appear, especially among people missed by traditional methods. The potential is huge, but there’s still work to be done.

“Teams are working on the science and epidemiology side, and developers are working on the technology,” he said. “Because there is so much potential good that this technology can do, we are working hard to make sure we get it right.”

The future of disease prevention might already be on your wrist. And with the right tools, it could make a difference when it matters most. Pandemics move fast. Smartwatches could help us move faster.

The full study was published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

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