In the United States, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a significant health problem accounting for nearly 40 percent of all deaths yearly, according to the US National Library of Medicine.

Doctors, scientists, and medical practitioners have confirmed that artificial intelligence (AI) can better predict cardiovascular disease, including risk factors, onset, and course. Identical to detecting cancer early, therapeutic lifestyle changes and drug treatment can greatly reduce a patient’s risk of heart attack and stroke if risk factors can be identified in patients early. But AI technology could improve this process, potentially saving lives before adverse events occur.

Thanks to technological innovations reaching deeply into our daily lives and emerging trends, the use of commercial smart wearable devices to manage health. There are various types of wearable devices, including – Smartwatches, Fitness trackers, pedometers, etc. There are more pros to wearable technology than just increasing your productivity at work and keeping up to date. Using voice commands to set reminders, dictate notes and even make lists all hands-free can save you loads of time and now could also save Lives. They’re used to track information on a real-time basis, taking snapshots of your day-to-day activities and syncing them with your mobile device or computer.

Wearable devices collect different types of data in different ways depending on the tech. Smartwatches and fitness trackers use built-in accelerometers and GPS sensors to track activities, calculating distance traveled, if you’ve gone for a run or walk, how fast you went and how many calories you burned off. Some wearable tech can also measure outside temperature and the wearer’s core temperature. You can also add information manually, like what you’ve eaten or drank or how much you weigh.

Few AI healthcare veterans have developed and validated an AI-enabled smartwatch ECG to detect heart failure-reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), targeted mainly for the elderly. The most common diagnosis in hospitalized patients over 65 years is cardiovascular disease; patients suffering from CVD become less mobile and active due to repeated hospital visits for check-ups and treatments, which in turn impacts the quality of life and adds to the medical costs (burdens). Early diagnosis and timely intervention in CVD may prevent irreversible effects, progression, and mortality. Though ECG is comparatively a low-cost test, it needs to be frequently performed, which is quite cumbersome for the patient.

Herein lies the answer, Smartwatches or trackers have the high processing power and sophisticated sensors that can provide new health data, including ECG. Smart wearables generate a plethora of data through various sensors and software algorithms, and understanding their basic engineering principles and limitations can be helpful for clinicians and scientists. Consumers can share the data captured by these devices via existing toolkits on the device(i.e, Apple Health Kit) with medical professionals and researchers.

In conclusion, a new age of healthcare technology has arrived, with significant benefits in disease prevention, helping diagnosis, and treatment. As AI and ML continue to evolve, our smartphones and smartwatches will be able to perform more complex functions and become an essential part of our medical care. AI is not just Artificial Intelligence. It is now a choice for better health care.