Wearable devices are no stranger to most people, and now more and more smart watches or other wearable devices are used to monitor physical indicators such as heart rate, so as to monitor or evaluate the overall health of users. Recently, a study published on the official website of the 71st Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC.22) showed that these monitoring data may not be so accurate in darker skin color.
The study was based on a systematic review of 10 previously published studies involving a total of 469 participants. The study brings together data from multiple studies that specifically examine how skin tone affects the accuracy of heart data in wearable devices. The researchers say darker-skinned people need to be cautious about test results when using such devices. The core key to this problem lies in two aspects:
On the one hand, most wearable devices are aimed at the wrist by a beam of light, and the heart rate is judged by the degree of light absorption by the ECG sensor, which is relatively easy to penetrate for white skin tones, or Asian yellow skin tones, and the melanin of the skin of dark-skinned people will absorb light and affect the results.
On the other hand, the current algorithm developed based on the ECG detection sensor is more of an algorithm model based on white or yellow. For people with darker skin tones, from the current actual situation of the smart wear industry, it is still only a minority of people, and it lacks research and development drive.
revelation
In recent years, in addition to monitoring the quality of body movement and sleep through wearable devices, manufacturers have gradually conducted medical research on consumer-grade wearable devices for early detection of heart problems. Including heart rate problems, studies have shown that pulse oximeters, which measure the amount of oxygen in the blood, are also not ideal for people with darker skin tones. For the technology itself, there is no skin color discrimination, I believe that with the skin color problem is raised, wearable devices continue to be popularized, and the future will be emphasized in research and development for all skin color people, reduce the error of results, and improve the accuracy and reliability of overall health monitoring.
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