A new research developed by Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP uses smart watches (also called smartwatches) to monitor patients suffering from long-term Covid.
The study, presented this week at the 27th Hospital Fair, in São Paulo, aims to improve the monitoring of those affected by the syndrome and also identify the main biological factors associated with it.
Long Covid occurs when patients continue to have health problems even weeks after diagnosis for the coronavirus. Several studies have tried to identify the mechanisms behind these damages, in search of solutions.
Linamara Rizzo Battistella, head professor of physiatrics at the USP School of Medicine and principal investigator of the study, explains that a difficulty in cases of chronic diseases is to assist patients in the long term.
The problem is already recognized, so much so that the design of this project was generically focused on chronic diseases. But with the growth of Covid-19 cases, researchers chose to focus on this condition.
The idea is to understand “how to monitor the patient so that he is calm at a distance”, without losing the data necessary to observe the evolution of Covid long, explains the professor.
Counting on 80 participants, the research makes them use Samsung brand smart watches with sensors that measure data from the organism. The main information is heart rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate and oxygen saturation.
“I can have the information in real time. On the platform that was developed, we look at these issues and we know exactly if the patient is evolving, stalling or worsening”, explains Battistella.
For the researcher, constant monitoring through this technology is an advantage because it also allows an evaluation of data recorded in different everyday circumstances, such as moments of physical activity.
To check whether the information obtained by the device is reliable, patients also undergo examinations at the hospital. The researchers then compare the two results to confirm whether the watch monitoring matches the test results.
Volunteers are expected to continue to be monitored at least until the end of the year, but this also depends on whether or not the symptoms of long-term Covid remain.
The data compiled in the study should also help to identify which biological markers are most associated with post-Covid syndrome.
“It is necessary to understand which parameters really matter and which have greater attention in cases of long-term Covid for a more urgent intervention. This will only be possible with monitoring”, says the professor.
In addition to the long Covid, the study also wants to learn lessons for improving the follow-up of patients with other chronic diseases, without having to travel to medical centers. The transmission of data to teams of professionals, something that can be boosted with 5G technology, is seen as one of the future paths for medicine.
“It is a project that will provide opportunities to improve our service model. On the other hand, we will continue to develop new strategies”, concludes Battistella.
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