From Fanciful to Practical: Wearable Digital Health Technology

Image credit: Simon Daoudi via Unsplash

From smart watches with diagnostic capabilities to sensor-based patches for remote disease monitoring, the benefits – and risks – of wearable digital health technology (DHT) are increasingly under the spotlight.

In a new series from The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers unpack the latest trends in wearable DHT, and their applications for advancing healthcare and improved patient outcomes.

Wearable DHT – that is, digital devices, tools and platforms worn to support better healthcare for patients and their clinicians – encompasses a vast range of technologies and is growing exponentially in its use within medical settings.

“We are publishing this now that wearable DHT is at an inflection point between fanciful descriptions and practical applications that are being woven into health monitoring, clinical diagnoses, and administrative approvals for new therapies,” said the authors.

“As recently as five years ago, almost all discussions about wearable DHT were in the future tense; it is now reasonable to assume that before the end of this decade the use of wearable DHT will be mainstream and underlie many aspects of medical care assessments and decision making for both patients and clinicians.”

Check out the full story via The New England Journal of Medicine.