Why we need Smart-Health
In the UK over 90% of people use a smartphone and 40% use a wearable device such as a Fitbit, Apple watch or Garmin smartwatch. However, despite the high rates of use in the population, researchers have little access to useful repositories of smartphone and wearable data.
Why is smartphone and wearable data useful for health research?
Smartphones and consumer wearables (like smartwatches) collect a wide range of data relevant to health. This includes measures of mobility, physical activity, and physiology (such as sleep, heart rate, oxygen level). These devices also allow the user to respond to questions about symptoms, quality of life, mood, etc. Collecting this data over months or years provides insight into how health changes over time.
Smartphone and wearable data need to be linked with other health-related data
Smartphone and wearable manufacturers already hold large amounts of smartphone and wearable data on users, with consent to collect and analyse data included in the terms and conditions (which users rarely read).
Despite having access to large amounts of smartphone and wearable data, manufacturers alone cannot perform the research required to understand how to use this data in healthcare. For this purpose, smartphone and wearable data must be “linked” with other data about the user and their health.
However, for most research, smartphone and wearable data also needs to be linked with data related to the person’s past, present and future health (such as if they have ever had cancer, are currently taking a particular medication, or if they develop dementia in the future). This health data is essential for research to establish the associations between smartphone and wearable data and health.
The need for Smart-Health
There is a pressing need for a large-scale research database of Smartphone and Wearable Data linked with participants’ NHS and other health-related data for bona fide researchers to conduct approved research that aims to understand how smartphone and wearable data might be used to improve human health.
Such a database would allow a wide range of research across almost all diseases. For example:
- How patterns of smartphone and wearable data differ in people who later develop specific diseases, compared with those who remain healthy. This could lead to new ways to predict and prevent such diseases.
- How smartphone and wearable data differs between healthy people and people with different diseases. This could identify potential diagnostic and treatment approaches.
How smartphone and wearable data changes over time in different diseases and with ageing. This could identify ways to monitor and prevent deterioration.
