This week we discuss wearable technology! This systematic review of systematic reviews is unique in that the authors plan to continue updating it every 6 months as more new research comes out on the validity and accuracy of consumer wearable technology. The most common consumer wearable technology are watches and rings which measure things like heart rate, sleep, and step count, among many other possible variables. The authors identified 310 different devices, and to appropriately validate the devices would require a separate validation study for each biometric on each device. This would require 1500+ validation studies! Most consumer wearables underestimate biometrics (like heart rate, oxygen saturation, and step count), however VO2max and total sleep time appear to be overestimated. Some wearables are able to track cardiac arrythmias, and data shows they are 97% accurate. This could be helpful to remotely monitor at-risk populations. One of our biggest takeaways from this is to not place too much stock into the data from the wearables, and try to correlate how you are feeling subjectively with the numbers that the device is giving you. This is how you can get the most out of your wearable technology without letting it rule your life.

The abstract can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39080098/

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