Wearables make our task simple and easier with much comfort.But in other hand, they have a major part in detecting our metabolism and health. Yes, wearables have been revolutionizing the field of medicine by detecting conditions such as heart arrhythmias.
The first wearable is none other than our wristwatch which was invented in the year 1904, by a jeweler Louis Cartier.A brazillian avaiation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont complained Cartier, that he feels difficult to check his pocket watch while piloting a plane. And thus, rose the wristwatch.
The wearable technology was popular in the Consumer electronics Show(CES) trade show in 2014, and numerous wearable products were showcased.These included smartwatches, activity trackers,smart jewelry,head-mounted optical displays, and earbuds.
The very same year, a report by PrinceWaterhouseCoopers entitled, “Wearable future report”, showed that one in five Americans owned a wearable device. Customers used the device to log their daily food intake, activities and weight. They also set daily and weekly goals for themselves,such as the number of steps to be taken, and the number of calories to be consumed and burned.
In October 2018, Fitbit introduced the fitbit charge 3 and it was the first device to include oxygen saturation(SPO2) sensor.However, that sensor is non-fictional,and fibit has yet to give a timeline for the feature to be enabled. And Fitbit is the first to introduce activity trackers, which can be synced to devices such as smartphones via blue tooth or to a blue tooth-equipped computer running Windows or MACos.
THE INNER WEARABLE
Abilify is a treatment for schizophrenia, a bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder(MDD). Abilify Mycite is a pill that includes an Ingestible Event marker, a sensor inside of the tablet. Once the pill is swallowed, it transmits a message to a wearable patch, which then transmits information to a mobile application. It was designed to ensure that patients take their anti-psychotic meditation. Though it is not for real time or emergency monitoring,and was approved by the U.S Food and drug Administration in 2017.
Another area of concern for fitbit devices has been, PRIVACY.In 2011, it was noted that the website’s default activity sharing settings for set for public viewing. Fitbit responded to the criticism by making the details private by default. Though, everything has a good in it, Richard Dabate filed a complaint that his wife Connie was murdered by an intruder,Connie’s fitbit tracker showed that she was exercising at a gym at the time of the alleged attack, and Richard was arrested.
Besides all these trackers and wearables including Apple smartwatches that bumped out in 2015, and the Samsung galaxy gear which first appeared in 2013, The latest Apple watch includes AF (Atrial fibrillation) detection. AF is a heart arrhythmia that affects 1% of population of the world.It’s mostly deducted in adults over 60 years of age and it is a major cause for stroke.
The kardiamobile and kardiabrand devices incorporate the Apple watch’s heart rate sensor. If there is an unusual heartbeat rate, a finger print sensored ECG, tells the user if he is normal or experiencing an AF. In the future, wearables will be used to collect biometric data,such as heartbeat rate(ECG), brainwave(EEG) and muscle bio-signals(EMG).They will also used to monitor the elderly.
Being able to review data transmitted from a wearable device means that a patient does not have to be transported to a medical facility, and this has the potential of saving millions of rupees a year.
