Fitbit has sold millions of fitness trackers and smartwatches with the aim of helping people get fitter and healthier.
Now, the company is going beyond making you fitter, and exploring the possibility of detecting and monitoring serious health conditions, with the introduction of its SpO2 sensor that is featured in its Ionic, Versa and Charge 3 devices.
Over the last few years, several Fitbit devices have helped in hundreds of clinical studies and trials, changing the way medical research are conducted, reports Wareable.
While Fitbit does have a Health Solutions division for its researchers, it’s had some help from the folks over at Fitabase. The analytics company has been key to much of the medical work done with Fitbit trackers.
Study on Multiple Sclerosis
Attempting to investigate the “ambulatory function” of sufferers of multiple sclerosis (MS), researchers at the University of California used Fitbit Flex in a study published in 2016.
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MS affects the myelin sheath that coats nerves, disrupting the signals sent through the central nervous system. Its effects are wide-ranging, but include difficulty walking and muscle spasms.
“Current metrics fail to capture potentially important variability in walking behavior,” the research abstract reads. Researchers used Fitbit Flex to measure the activity of participants for four weeks, including an initial seven days where the Flex’s readings were compared with those of an ActiGraph, a medical-grade (and much chunkier) tracker.
The results were quite interesting. Researchers found that Fitbits do tend to overestimate step counts. However, the participants tended to use the Fitbit Flex much more consistently than the ActiGraph “pro” tracker: “96% compared to 91% wear-time”.
After the four-week trial, all but three of the 99 testers were still on-board too. Two left citing “personal preference” and one couldn’t get it to work with their PC or phone. The rest stayed involved.

Study on Hip replacement
In another study, conducted by Mayo Clinic, researchers monitored the recovery of patients following a total hip replacement using an ankle-worn Fitbit. A total of 33 patients over the age of 60 were monitored.
“Recommended activities include gradually increased walking and light household activities. Movement is essential to a healthy recovery,” says the Rothman Institute’s Fabio R. Orozco, a hip and knee surgeon.
“Little is known objectively about the recovery of mobility in the early post-operative period,” the researchers wrote.
The study found that 89% of the participants adhered to using Fitbit over the 30-day study period. That seems pretty impressive given the Fitbit would have had to be recharged a few times during the tests, and some of the participants were over 80.
Study on Mother and baby
In one of the more interesting and controversial studies, researchers wanted to shed some light on the anecdotal theory that “offspring born to mothers who exercise during pregnancy have been shown to have reduced birth weight and body weight during adolescence.”
Researchers used a Fitbit Flex to monitor the step counts of mothers in the last six months of pregnancy. They were then split into groups, those who took more than 6000 steps a day, and those who didn’t.
The excised foreskin of male babies was then analyzed by the researchers. The trial took place in the US, where approximately 71.2 percent of males are circumcised according to a 2016 study.
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Researcher found that “Low levels of physical activity during pregnancy are linked with increased gene expression of markers of adipogenesis and decreased markers involved in insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake,”
Largest Fitbit-related trial to date
Perhaps the largest Fitbit-related trial of all is currently on-going. The company announced in November, 2017 that thousands of its trackers would be used in the US National Institute of Health’s All of Us program.
The study is supposed to have one million participants, although the announcement says only 10,000 Fitbits will be used initially. So right now, 10,000 people across the US are using Fitbits. Their activity, sleep and heart rate data will be gathered to see how it corresponds to their location, age and any conditions they may have, said the Wareable report.
from Wearable Technologies https://ift.tt/2LAwH2S