Benefits of using healthcare wearable technology

Giving healthcare consumers insight into their health

Until the 21st century, Americans could only get insights into their health when they visited their healthcare clinic. But now, thanks to wearable technology in healthcare, that information is at their fingertips.

Healthcare consumers are using wearable technology to track various metrics. A survey of 2,005 U.S. adults conducted in 2022 revealed that most are using wearables to track pulse rate (59%), followed by calories and nutrition (42%), heart health (40%), sleep quality and duration (39%), and breathing rate (30%). Some of their primary motivations for using the devices are to count steps per day (64%), glean motivation to exercise (36%) and track weight loss (27%).

Consumers believe that wearable devices are helping them achieve these fitness goals. In the 2022 survey, 70% said the devices have helped improve their fitness and health, and 30% said they have significantly improved their fitness and health.

Prompting healthier behaviors and habits

The benefits of healthcare wearable technology are not limited to patients' enthusiasm and the devices' potential for spurring healthier habits and lifestyles. Research, too, shows that the use of wearables translates to meaningful changes.

For instance, a study published in 2024 shows that wearable devices increased physical activity among lung cancer patients in the six months after surgery. The study compared data of patients with suspected or confirmed non-small cell lung cancer scheduled for surgery who underwent a wearable device-based intervention with data from a historical control group that received standard care.

The intervention period spanned preoperative, immediate postoperative, and two- and six-month postoperative phases. During this time, patients were provided with a wearable device that monitored their step count, activity intensity, activity time, frequency and heart rate during exercise.

The researchers found that the intervention group had increased their daily steps in the six months after surgery, whereas the control group had not returned to their baseline number of daily steps. The intervention group also reported better patient-reported physical function and less pain two weeks after surgery than the control group.

These findings indicate that wearable technology could be useful in rehabilitation programs. Notably, research shows that wearable devices can prompt seniors with chronic diseases to achieve nationally recommended weekly resistance strength training compared to their counterparts who did not use them.

Supporting diagnostics

Healthcare wearable-collected data offers a treasure trove of information that could help make medical diagnostics more accurate and accessible.

In 2023, Washington University in St. Louis researchers created a deep-learning AI model that used data from Fitbit activity trackers to detect depression and anxiety. The WearNet AI model evaluated 10 variables -- including steps, calories burned and heart rate -- to pinpoint mental health conditions in a study that included data from over 10,000 Fitbit users.

Research also shows that a wrist-worn wearable sensor was able to accurately determine troponin-I levels and obstructed arteries to diagnose heart attacks. The sensor uses infrared light to detect the presence of troponin-I in the blood through the skin and sends signals to a cloud-based system via Bluetooth. Troponin-I is a type of protein that enters the bloodstream when the heart muscle is damaged.

A machine-learning algorithm then compares the signals to training data to predict the wearer's troponin-I levels. In a trial, researchers confirmed that the tool predicted troponin-I levels with an accuracy of 90%, which could result in accurate heart attack diagnoses.

Personalizing chronic disease management

Chronic disease management is another area in which healthcare wearable technology is having a significant impact.

Several healthcare provider organizations, including Kaiser Permanente and Texas Heart Institute, are using healthcare wearables in their cardiology programs to address chronic heart care needs. Leaders from these organizations shared the benefits that wearable technology has provided, including improved outcomes for cardiac rehabilitation patients and increased patient engagement.

The clinical benefits of wearable technology are expanding into oncology and chronic gastrointestinal diseases as well.

In 2023, University of Virginia Health researchers announced early findings showing that wearable devices can be used to gain insights into patients' cortisol levels, enabling clinicians to provide personalized care to at-risk cancer patients. The research is based on clinical evidence that pancreatic cancer patients with high cortisol levels resulting from disrupted sleep will experience faster tumor growth. Thus, continuously monitoring people's hormone levels through wearables can help oncologists determine tumor growth and offer appropriate treatment plans.

More recently, a study revealed that healthcare wearable devices can collect physiological data to identify and predict flare-ups in inflammatory bowel disease patients. The research, published in 2025, included wearable-collected data from 309 participants. The researchers found that various metrics, including heart rate variability and resting heart rate, were significantly altered during and in the period leading up to flare-ups. Using this data, clinicians could potentially predict patient flare-ups and intervene early.

Enhancing inpatient monitoring

Healthcare wearables not only bring health insights into patients' hands outside hospitals and clinics, but they also show promising potential for improving care within healthcare facilities.

For example, in 2024, California-based Sutter Health implemented Flosonics Medical's FloPatch wireless, wearable Doppler ultrasound device in its ICUs for sepsis management. The device helps critical care physicians assess blood flow accurately in patients with sepsis, making treatment more precise.

Wearable devices also display the potential to transform traditional post-surgery monitoring protocols. Cleveland Clinic and GE HealthCare announced the results of a pilot study on the use of the Portrait Mobile solution in post-surgery wards. The solution comprises a wrist-worn pulse oximeter and a respiratory rate monitor attached to the patient through three chest leads. It continuously monitors three vital signs: heart rate, oxygen saturation and respiratory rate. The study shows that the solution provided critical vital sign information to clinicians without prompting alarm fatigue, enabling them to provide effective clinical responses and mitigate patient deterioration.

Potential for healthcare cost-savings

Research shows that healthcare wearable technology has the potential to save money for the healthcare system.

A literature review published in 2024 shows that wearable technologies can increase quality-adjusted life years and be cost-effective. For the review, Mayo Clinic researchers examined 10 studies published between 2012 and 2023, which covered a range of wearable technologies applied in different healthcare settings, including respiratory rate monitors, pedometers, fall-prediction devices and heart rate monitors.

Overall, the studies found that healthcare wearable devices can be cost-effective and potentially result in cost savings. However, researchers emphasized that their cost-effectiveness is "context-specific and dependent on several factors, including the type of wearable, the health condition being managed, local cost structures, willingness-to-pay thresholds, and several others."

These benefits show that healthcare wearable technology can engage healthcare consumers in their health and provide critical information to healthcare providers that can meaningfully improve patient outcomes.

Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers the virtual healthcare landscape, including telehealth, remote patient monitoring and digital therapeutics.