Ep. 131: How Your Wearable Data Will Improve Healthcare

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Wearables like the Apple Watch, Fitbit, the WHOOP band and the Oura Ring help us track our exercise and lifestyle habits, collecting loads of data as we use them. So what’s happening with all that information, and how can wearable data help to promote optimal human wellness? What cool things are wearable data allowing researchers to do today? And what new capabilities will this data enable in the future? Evidation is a Silicon Valley-based company that aggregates the data from wearables and enables its users to participate in groundbreaking research and health programs. In conversation with our Move host, Dr. Andrew Miners of Medcan, Evidation COO Leslie Wilberforce explores the ways wearable data can help us maintain healthy habits, and help us detect medical conditions earlier than ever before.

LINKS

• Learn more on Evidation Health’s website and follow their Twitter page. Here’s the link to the app, currently not available on the Canadian Apple App store. 

• Learn more about the Heartline™ Study, for which Evidation Health provides the technology and study operations that enable the Heartline™ Study app and study experience for participants.

• Watch this YouTube video to learn more about how Evidation assists with scientific research. 

• See some research published by/with the help of Evidation Health:

  • Cognitive Digital Biomarkers from Automated Transcription of Spoken Language

  • Digital intervention increases influenza vaccination rates for people with diabetes in a decentralized randomized trial

  • Estimating the Burden of Influenza-like Illness on Daily Activity at the Population Scale Using Commercial Wearable Sensors

• Learn more about Medcan Naweza, the humanitarian initiative that utilized SMS technology to screen patients. 

INSIGHTS

1. What exactly is Evidation Health? What does the company do with wearable data? [3:55]

2. About one in five people has a wearable that tracks things like steps, heart rate or sleep. Even if you don’t have a wearable, your smartphone is collecting lots of data related to your health. [7:36]

3. How could the way Evidation uses data be beneficial to an individual and help them be healthier? [8:53]

4. Evidation users can choose to have their health data included in population-based health research on several serious conditions: 

   • Atrial fibrillation and other heart conditions [11:18]

   • Cognitive decline [14:58]

   • Rheumatoid arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions [16:41]

5. Can a wearable, or access to a platform like Evidation, change a person’s behaviour? [18:43}

6. Wearable data has the potential to give physicians a much broader picture of their patients’ health compared to what just one check-up a year could ever provide. [22:54]

7. There is growing uncertainty around sharing personal data, especially health-related data. How is Evidation addressing privacy concerns and keeping its users’ data safe? [25:01]

8. What type of new wearable technology can we expect in the next 20 or 30 years? How does Leslie hope health data can change healthcare in the future? [27:05]

9. How could wearable data improve the health care systems of developing countries, or of communities with currently-limited access to adequate healthcare or resources? [29:58]

10. Does Evidation Health have plans to bring its app to Canada, or conduct research in Canada? [34:12]

*LEGAL

This podcast episode is intended to provide general information about health and wellness only and is not designed, or intended to constitute, or be used as a substitute for, medical advice, treatment or diagnosis. You should always talk to your Medcan health care provider for individual medical advice, diagnosis and treatment, including your specific health and wellness needs. 

The podcast is based on the information available at the time of preparation and is only accurate and current as of that date. Source information and recommendations are subject to change based on scientific evidence as it evolves over time. Medcan is not responsible for future changes or updates to the information and recommendations, and assumes no obligation to update based on future developments. 

Reference to, or mention of, specific treatments or therapies, does not constitute or imply a recommendation or endorsement. The links provided within the associated document are to assist the reader with the specific information highlighted. Any third-party links are not endorsed by Medcan.

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