Smartwatches in Healthcare Drive Insights and Action

Smartwatches and other wearables aren’t just for fashion and fitness. Increasingly, they’re helping healthcare providers collect and analyze wider swaths of patient data between appointments or after surgery — valuable insights that can inform treatment.Globally, an estimated 198.5 million devices will be sold by the end of the year, marking an annual growth of 15.3 percent. Much of that boost, according to IDC research, is coming from adoption in the healthcare segment. Although the tally includes wristbands, “smart” clothing and step-counting shoes, smartwatches account for nearly half of all sales cited in the research.

Medigy Insights

The potential has inspired organizations such as Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, which in 2015 launched a pilot program to better track patients with uncontrolled hypertension. An effort to use patients’ wireless blood pressure cuffs to transmit readings to their Apple Watches is the first of its kind in the U.S. to help patients manage a chronic condition. Given their functions and widespread popularity, smartwatches are also a boon to health researchers. This year, Stanford University announced results of a study that found the Apple Watch could detect atrial fibrillation, a leading stroke risk, with 84 percent accuracy.

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