THURSDAY, July 8, 2021 (Healthday News) – Wearable fitness trackers like Fitbits or the Apple Watch can help track people’s recovery from COVID-19 and show how long-term that recovery is, according to a new study.
It was conducted from late March 2020 to late January 2021 and included 875 Fitbit wearers, of which 234 tested positive for COVID-19.
Data from the handheld devices showed that people who tested positive for COVID-19 had behavioral and physiological symptoms, including an increased heart rate that could last for weeks or months, the New York Times reported.
According to researchers at the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, California, these symptoms lasted longer in people with COVID-19 than in people with other respiratory diseases.
It took an average of 79 days for their resting heart rate to return to normal, compared to just four days for those in the non-COVID group.
This can be a sign that COVID-19 is disrupting the autonomic nervous system, which regulates basic physiological processes. The palpitations and dizziness reported by many people with COVID may be symptoms of this disorder, the researchers said.
“Many people who get COVID develop autonomic dysfunction and a type of persistent inflammation, and this can affect their body’s ability to regulate their heart rate,” Jennifer Radin, an epidemiologist at Scripps who led the study, told the Times.
“We want to better capture the long-term symptoms so we can compare the physiological changes we see with the symptoms the participants actually experience,” said Radin. “So this is really a preliminary study that opens up many more studies.”
The study was published on Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
“This was an interesting study and I think it’s important,” said Dr. Robert Hirten, gastroenterologist and wearables expert at the Icahn School of Medicine on Mount Sinai in New York City, The Times. “Wearable devices offer us the opportunity to inconspicuously monitor people over long periods of time in order to see objectively – how has the virus really affected them?”
Shepherds were not involved in the study.
Several previous studies have shown that wearable fitness trackers – which can collect data on heart rate, body temperature, physical activity, and other health information – can also help identify the early signs of COVID-19, the Times reported.
About 1 in 5 Americans use such devices.
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SOURCE: The New York Times
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