Scientists at Mount Sinai Hospital have conducted a new study, which revealed that the Apple Watch could be used to detect coronavirus infection even before a diagnosis is made.
In scientific work, experts decided to check whether a specific function of the Apple Watch can be used to detect coronavirus. This index of heart rate variability measures the change in the time between the user’s heartbeats during the day. Low HRV indicated that the nervous system is trying to adapt to changes. So, as part of the study, the scientists planned to find out whether it is possible to predict coronavirus infection in the case of low HRV.
To do this, they recorded HRV in nearly 300 health professionals from Mount Sinai, who agreed to wear an Apple Watch, installing a special program to monitor HRV on them. It turned out that in workers who contracted COVID-19, the HRV indicator changed a week before the diagnosis. Apparently, Apple Watch can detect infection even before a person realizes that he is sick.