Can Smartwatches and Fitness Trackers Detect Pregnancy Abnormalities?

New Delhi, Sep 13 (NationPress) A basic wearable gadget, such as a smartwatch or fitness tracker, has the potential to transform pregnancy monitoring and facilitate the early detection of abnormalities.

Researchers from Scripps Research have discovered initial evidence indicating that popular wearable devices like the Apple Watch, Garmin, and Fitbit can remotely observe health changes related to pregnancy by monitoring physiological patterns—such as heart rate—that are associated with hormonal variations.

“The advent of wearable technology presents a remarkable opportunity to devise groundbreaking solutions aimed at reducing the significant number of adverse pregnancy outcomes in the US,” stated co-senior author Giorgio Quer, who is the director of artificial intelligence and an assistant professor of Digital Medicine at Scripps Research.

“Our findings suggest that data gathered from wearable sensors align with expected hormonal changes and can identify unique patterns specifically linked to successful pregnancies, potentially enabling continuous monitoring of maternal health throughout pregnancy and after delivery.”

The study involved 108 participants who consented to share their data from three months prior to their pregnancy until six months post-delivery. Utilizing advanced statistical techniques to recognize patterns at the population level, the research team was able to account for individual variances and differences between devices.

From this information, the researchers identified physiological trends that corresponded with the variation of critical pregnancy hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). The changes in these hormones are crucial for positive pregnancy outcomes and provide insights into the progress of the pregnancy.

The heart rate data was particularly striking. In the early stages of pregnancy, the researchers noted that a woman's heart rate initially decreased between weeks five and nine, then gradually increased until approximately eight or nine weeks before delivery, peaking at up to 9.4 beats per minute above pre-pregnancy levels.

Following childbirth, the heart rate dropped below baseline levels before stabilizing around six months postpartum. The researchers also monitored sleep and activity patterns throughout the pregnancy.

To confirm this correlation, the team compared patterns from wearable sensors with previously published hormone-level data from pregnancy studies, creating comprehensive models that anticipated heart rate variations based on expected hormonal changes during pregnancy. Though these findings are preliminary, they indicate that wearable technology could significantly improve prenatal care, especially for women residing in areas lacking maternal care resources.