How Wearable Devices Support Efficient Health Monitoring

Continuous wearable-based monitoring allows doctors to detect sporadic symptoms that might not be apparent during the physical checkup. If a patient reports occasional heart palpitations, the physician can prescribe a few weeks of remote cardiac monitoring to observe the symptoms. The device (e.g., an ECG patch) will continuously measure the patient’s heart rate, record any deviations from the norm, and then generate a detailed report for the doctor.

Medical devices (including wearables) support long-term disease management by tracking condition-specific health data. For example, diabetes patients often use continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) to track blood sugar trends throughout the day. If a patient’s glucose levels spike after meals repeatedly, the physician will receive a notification and may then adjust insulin timing or recommend dietary changes. In more advanced solutions, the CGM can be connected to an insulin pump and implement the dosage changes directly according to preset rules.

After discharge or during at-home rehabilitation, patients can use wearables to monitor recovery trajectories. Those recovering from orthopedic surgery may use range of motion (ROM) sensors to track mobility improvement. Continuous data collection allows physicians to track patient progress, evaluate the effectiveness of the chosen treatment, and make informed adjustments to the care plan. For instance, if a patient fails to meet recovery benchmarks over several days, the doctor may consider recommending a different set of exercises.

Wearables can help track whether patients are sticking to non-medical treatments like taking regular walks, doing home-based exercises, or maintaining sleep hygiene. In more specialized solutions, wearable medical devices can be paired with ingestion sensors to directly confirm medication intake. The sensor is embedded into the drug capsule and, when exposed to the stomach fluids, sends a signal to a wrist- or neck-worn reader. In turn, the reader relays the ingestion data to a patient app or a clinician dashboard.

Wearables designed for neurological conditions track movement irregularities like shaking, jerking, or rigidity. For seizure-prone patients, a wrist-worn device may detect convulsive motion patterns and notify a caregiver within seconds. For those struggling with Parkinson’s disease, wearables log tremor frequency and intensity throughout the day, which helps clinicians calibrate medication dosage and timing as well as determine whether a patient requires an urgent visit or a neurosurgical procedure.

Mental health conditions often bring about multiple physiological symptoms such as increased heart rate, hyperventilation, tremors, and changes in electrodermal activity (EDA). Additionally, deterioration of mental health can influence behavioral patterns such as physical activity and sleep quality. All of these symptoms can be tracked using wearables in the same way we do for physical illnesses. This data can allow clinicians to monitor therapy progress, foresee relapses of mental illnesses, adjust medication, and intervene in case of suicidal risks.

In nursing homes and assisted living facilities, wearable devices can be used to ensure the safety and well-being of geriatric patients. For example, smartwatches can be applied to continuously track heart rate to identify atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, and other issues. When powered by machine learning, they can even predict a cardiac event. In fact, our research suggests that, in the next 5 to 10 years, 50% of people over 55–60 will use wearables to catch such risks early on.

During pregnancy, wearables are used to identify high-risk patients and prevent complications like preterm labor, hypertensive disorders, and gestational weight gain. Wearable devices for expectant mothers can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and uterine contractions. The devices can include smart rings, wristbands, skin patches, and clothing with embedded sensors. Fetal monitoring solutions rely on abdominal patches or belts equipped with Doppler or ECG-based sensors to track fetal heart rate and movements.

Sleep-monitoring wrist-worn devices track total sleep time, time in each sleep stage (light, deep, REM), nighttime awakenings, and sleep regularity. In general wellness, they help users optimize rest and identify poor sleeping habits. But they can also be used for clinical purposes. Wearables can facilitate the detection and management of sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea. For example, Apple Watch can monitor the users’ breathing during the night and notify them if the disturbances are too frequent.

In clinical research, wearables not only enable remote participation but also help reduce issues related to subjective input or fragmented data. For instance, actigraphy and accelerometers are gradually replacing patient surveys in physical activity and sleep quality assessments in oncology and neurology research. Similarly, in testing the effectiveness of diabetes treatments, CGMs have proved to be more reliable than traditional periodic measurements of HbA1c.

Fitness trackers help individuals monitor their step count, heart rate, calories burned, and overall physical activity intensity. For a casual user, it might simply be a nice way to encourage and maintain a healthier lifestyle. However, physicians can also utilize this data, along with other metrics, to assess an individual’s health state. For professional athletes, it’s often a necessity to prevent overtraining and related injuries.