DETECT Health Study

The Scripps Research Translational Institute has launched an app-based research program that will analyze participants’ wearable health data—including heart rates, sleep and activity levels—to more quickly detect the emergence of influenza, coronavirus and other fast-spreading viral illnesses.

Members of the public who are 18 or older and use a smartwatch or activity tracker, such as a Fitbit, Apple Watch, Amazfit or Garmin Watch, can join the study and consent to share their data by downloading the MyDataHelps mobile app

Study Information

Sensor-based surveillance for digitising real-time COVID-19 tracking in the USA (DETECT): a multivariable, population-based, modelling study, The Lancet Digital Health, September 2022

Inter-individual variation in objective measure of reactogenicity following COVID-19 vaccination via smartwatches and fitness bands, npj Digital Medicine, April 2022

Passive detection of COVID-19 with wearable sensors and explainable machine learning algorithms, npj Digital Medicine, December 2021

Assessment of prolonged physiological and behavioral changes associated with COVID-19 infection, JAMA Network Open, July 2021

Wearable sensor data and self-reported symptoms for COVID-19 detection, Nature Medicine, October 2020

Harnessing wearable device data to improve state-level real-time surveilllance of influenza-like illness in the USA: a population-based study, The Lancet Digital Health, January 2020

Fitness trackers are revealing COVID's long-term effects, US News & World Report, July 2021

Fitbits detect lasting changes after COVID-19, The New York Times, July 2021

A new study using wearable devices could help define long COVID, The Economist, July 2021

Fitness swatches can detect long COVID effects, study finds, Runner's World, July 2021

Fitbit data showed COVID survivors had an elevated heart rate for months after diagnosis, People, July 2021

COVID impacts lasting average of 2-3 months, KPBS Midday Edition, July 2021

Fitbits detect lasting changes after COVID-19, The New York Times, July 2021

Think you've recovered fully from COVID? Your Fitbit may say otherwise, The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 2021

Could your fitness tracker really detect COVID-19?, GQ, July 2020

Could your smartwatch detect the coronavirus?, ESPN, May 2020

'We're racing against the clock': Researchers test wearables as an early warning system for COVID-19, STAT, March 2020

Telemedicine is essential amid the COVID-19 crisis and after it, The Economist, March 2020

Could wearables like Apple Watch, Fitbit fitness trackers help detect coronavirus, USA Today, April 2020

Pivoting health research to take on COVID-19 - What one team learned, World Economic Forum, March 2020

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