The future of medical wearables looks bright

Wearable technology is a ubiquitous part of our lives.  Many of us faithfully wear pedometers or smart phones on our wrists tracking how many steps we take in a day. This type of technology is so popular (one in six consumer’s use wearable tech) that in 2017, the wearables market was predicted to have reached more than $4 billion. 

Now imagine going beyond simply recording how many steps you walk. What if it could check your blood sugar, blood pressure, heart rate irregularities and beyond?  The future of medical technology is here and the wearables market is exploding.  In fact, growth in this market is expected to increase 35 percent by 2019.

Tracking physical activity was a big boon in making us aware of how much we moved over the course of a day. This technology has inspired and encouraged many of us to get off the couch and start moving more.  All of us know of someone or including ourselves who has bought into the notion of wearing a device to make us a fit person. 

For decades, health-care data once only regulated to being recorded at a doctor’s office is now available literally at our fingertips without having to leave the comfort of our homes.  At any time of the day, a wearable medical device can tell you how your blood pressure or blood glucose is doing with a quick glance or use of a sensor instantly letting you know the result. 

Given the fact that 50 percent of all adults in the U.S. have at least one chronic disease, wearable medical technology could be a game-changer.  It would allow patients to keep tabs of their own medical conditions helping manage them independently.  It would also eliminate the need for repeated visits to the doctor’s office saving the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars.  Your doctor would still be involved in your overall care but could monitor your health from miles away. 

When your doctor can monitor medical conditions by viewing data collected over time, they can evaluate how these changes interact with other medical conditions.  For instance, data from technology from continuous glucose monitors, when evaluated with a heart rate tracking device, could reveal how changes in glucose levels impact heart rate or other cardiovascular indicators.  This information could result in more individualized therapies specifically for you leading to better coordination and management of your health conditions.

Here is a look at some of the wearable medical devices currently available or in development:

·      Cardiac monitoring – There are several devices that can record and collect data on tracking and analyzing your heart’s health.  There are wearable ECG devices to monitor heart rate checking for arrhythmias; also wearable patches that can record events such as chest pain, shortness of breath and other heart health concerns.  If the device detects an event happening, it will begin taking vitals such as heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and skin temperature.

·      Diabetes monitoring – The majority of people with diabetes are required to monitor their blood glucose levels by pricking themselves from one to four times daily to collect blood droplets on a test strip and then placing the strip in a meter for a reading.  This can be painful and inconvenient.  Many people with diabetes may forego the recommended number of times to check due to these disruptions resulting in poor diabetes management.  Now, there are devices that can measure blood glucose eliminating the need for routine finger sticks.  Small, round sensors placed on the back of a person’s upper arm, can be scanned wirelessly to check blood glucose levels multiple times a day.  It’s been shown that people using these devices will check their blood glucose levels an average of 15 times a day.  Having this data helps patients make more informed decisions on managing their diabetes achieving better blood glucose control.

·      Infant monitoring – It’s hard to believe, but baby cribs, socks, and even diapers have been influenced by wearable trends to help improve infant health giving parents peace of mind.  These devices can detect a wet diaper or body movement and monitor blood oxygen levels.  The use of these products can also collect data that may be used to shed light on unexplained infant deaths.

·      Pain management – From migraines to lower back pain, wearable devices are making their mark in providing an alternative method of managing pain.  When a person is experiencing pain, these devices can deliver transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) or transport pain medication.  The devices do require switches in order to actuate and function properly.

The benefit of wearable medical devices goes beyond the information you and your doctor can see.  This technology could revolutionize medical research.  Researchers have to conduct expensive and long-lasting clinical trials to gather enough data analyzing the effectiveness of a specific treatment for a certain disease.  With more people across a broad population wearing medical devices, this could help generate a magnitude of real-world data in a much shorter period of time at a minimal cost. 

Only the future knows the impact wearable medical technology will have.  It appears if used judiciously, this new technology could make a world of difference of how we treat disease and keep people as healthy as possible.