Help COVID-19 Research by Sharing Your Fitbit Data
I know my Fitbit is not for diagnostic use, but I’m also pretty sure I’m not the first to notice a correlation between, say, my resting heart rate increases a few days before the onset of illness. winter cold. This is why I was very excited (and personally confirmed) to learn that Fitbit is now giving users the opportunity to share our health data with Scripps and Stanford in the hopes that they can find similar correlations and connections in their COVID-19 study.
As the Fitbit blog explains:
We know that early detection is critical to preventing the spread of infectious disease outbreaks. There was early evidence that wearable devices like Fitbit devices could help predict the onset of infectious diseases like influenza and COVID-19.
That’s why we’re partnering with leaders like Scripps Research Institute and Stanford Medicine to conduct important research to see if wearable data can help detect, track, and contain COVID-19. These studies use data from wearable devices to determine if tracking changes in heart rate, activity, and sleep could be an early sign of viral diseases such as COVID-19 before actual symptoms appear.
If you also want to share your Fitbit data on behalf of coronavirus research, you have two options:
- Find out if you are eligible to participate in the COVID-19 PROTECT wearable research study at Stanford Healthcare Innovation Laboratory . This study will only accept participants who have either been diagnosed with COVID-19 or are at high risk of infection, so you may not be eligible, but if you do, you can give Stanford Health Innovation Lab access to your Fitbit data. … so that they can use it in their research.
- Enroll in the Scripps DETECT Health Study . All you need to do to participate in the DETECT Health Study is to download the MyDataHelps app in the App Store or Google Play and connect your wearable device (the app supports Fitbit, Apple Watch, Garmin, Amazefit, OURA, Beddit and others). Once connected, you’ll want to report any unusual symptoms to MyDataHelps so that the app can correlate your health with the information sent through the fitness tracker.
These aren’t the only apps trying to track coronavirus symptoms and better understand how disease is transmitted and experienced – for example, I currently report my health status to the COVID Symptom Tracker app every morning. But if you own Fitbit and don’t mind sharing your data with several reputable research groups, you might consider subscribing to one or both of these studies.