Wearable Technology Saves Life: How Smartwatches and Sports Watches Can Improve Public Health through Cardiovascular Monitoring

In 2019, Chris Monk from Berkshire had a routine 10k run when his sports watch alerted him to an issue with his heart rate. He was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. His wife, Nicola, joined a group to help scientists understand how data from smartphones and sports watches can improve people’s health.

Nicola Monk believes that having access to her husband’s smartwatch data was crucial in his diagnosis. She emphasizes the importance of this type of monitoring in helping individuals with cardiovascular diseases. As a result of her husband’s experience, she has become passionate about making this type of monitoring more accessible to others in the future.

The British Heart Foundation’s Data Science Centre is conducting research on how sports watches and smartphones can be used to monitor health. Nicola Monk, along with seven other members of the public, helped create a study to explore ways in which data can support cardiovascular research. Dr. Jackie MacArthur, a senior scientific programme manager at the BHF’s Data Science Centre, believes that securely linking this data with a person’s NHS data could lead to new insights in cardiovascular diseases.

By using data provided by smartwatches and smartphones, researchers hope to make significant improvements in public health by predicting, diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases earlier than ever before.