SynthesisThe Lancet. Digital health2022
The performance of wearable sensors in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review.
Synthesis in The Lancet. Digital health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Wearable Devices to Diagnose and Monitor the Progression of COVID-19 Through Heart Rate Variability Measurement: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- The performance of wearable sensors in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review.The Lancet. Digital health · 2022Pooled it
- Stem Cell Transplant Patients' Activity Decline, Outpatient Resumption, and Intervention Effectiveness Identified by Wearable Activity Monitoring.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Feasibility of wearable sensor signals and self-reported symptoms to prompt at-home testing for acute respiratory viruses in the USA (DETECT-AHEAD): a decentralised, randomised controlled trial.The Lancet. Digital health · 2024Trial
- Physiological Response to the COVID-19 Vaccine: Insights From a Prospective, Randomized, Single-Blinded, Crossover Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Evaluating the Potential of Machine Learning and Wearable Devices in End-of-Life Care in Predicting 7-Day Death Events Among Patients With Terminal Cancer: Cohort Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Clinical Evaluation of a Real-Time Wearable System for Monitoring In-Hospital Ambulatory Patients With COVID-19: Retrospective Data Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
- Patient-specific deep offline artificial pancreas for blood glucose regulation in type 1 diabetes.Smart health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2026Article
- The diagnostic accuracy of wearable digital technology in detecting fertility window and menstrual cycles: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- American Life in Realtime: Benchmark, publicly available person-generated health data for equity in precision health.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- An infection prediction model developed from inpatient data can predict out-of-hospital COVID-19 infections from wearable data when controlled for dataset shift.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Testing the Impact of Intensive, Longitudinal Sampling on Assessments of Statistical Power and Effect Size Within a Heterogeneous Human Population: Natural Experiment Using Change in Heart Rate on Weekends as a Surrogate Intervention.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Opportunities and Challenges Surrounding the Use of Wearable Sensor Bracelets for Infectious Disease Detection During Hajj: Qualitative Interview Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Early Detection in Doctors and Healthcare Workers (CEDiD) study: a cohort study on the feasibility of wearable devices.BMJ open · 2025Observational
- Terminating pandemics with smartwatches.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- Federated learning as a smart tool for research on infectious diseases.BMC infectious diseases · 2024Review
- Feasibility of snapshot testing using wearable sensors to detect cardiorespiratory illness (COVID infection in India).NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Randomized Controlled Trial to Assess the Feasibility of a Novel Clinical Decision Support System Based on the Automatic Generation of Alerts through Remote Patient Monitoring.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Containing the COVID-19 pandemic requires rapidly identifying infected individuals. Subtle changes in physiological parameters (such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature), discernible by wearable devices, could act as early digital biomarkers of infections. Our primary objective was to assess the performance of statistical and algorithmic models using data from wearable devices to detect deviations compatible with a SARS-CoV-2 infection. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (known as CENTRAL), International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and ClinicalTrials.gov on July 27, 2021 for publications, preprints, and study protocols describing the use of wearable devices to identify a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Of 3196 records identified and screened, 12 articles and 12 study protocols were analysed. Most included articles had a moderate risk of bias, as per the National Institute of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational and Cross-Sectional Studies. The accuracy of algorithmic models to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection varied greatly (area under the curve 0·52-0·92). An algorithm's ability to detect presymptomatic infection varied greatly (from 20% to 88% of cases), from 14 days to 1 day before symptom onset. Increased heart rate was most frequently associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, along with increased skin temperature and respiratory rate. All 12 protocols described prospective studies that had yet to be completed or to publish their results, including two randomised controlled trials. The evidence surrounding wearable devices in the early detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection is still in an early stage, with a limited overall number of studies identified. However, these studies show promise for the early detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Large prospective, and preferably controlled, studies recruiting and retaining larger and more diverse populations are needed to provide further evidence.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.