Wearable technology has moved far beyond step-tracking and fitness goals. In 2025, the most advanced smartwatches and fitness bands are emerging as powerful tools for detecting medical emergencies before they unfold. With sensors monitoring heart rhythms, oxygen levels, sleep patterns, skin temperature and electrical activity, AI-powered wearables are now helping flag early signs of arrhythmias, cardiac distress and even seizures. Early detection can make the difference between timely intervention and life-threatening delay, especially for patients living with epilepsy or heart disease, two conditions where sudden events can occur without warning.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death globally, while epilepsy affects around 50 million people worldwide. Predicting risk in real time has long been a challenge for doctors, since symptoms can be unpredictable or short-lived. Now, with machine-learning algorithms trained on millions of data points, consumer wearables are inching closer to medical-grade monitoring, giving doctors unprecedented access to patterns that were previously invisible.
So, how exactly do doctors decipher data from AI-powered wearable devices? NDTV spoke to leading specialists who explain how wearables are helping patients, what they can and cannot diagnose, and the safety essentials everyone should know before relying on AI-based predictions.
Why Heart Patients Are Turning To AI-Powered Wearables
AI-powered wearables are increasingly being recommended by cardiologists for patients with palpitations, dizziness, or suspected arrhythmias. Dr Balbir Singh, Group Chairman - Cardiac Sciences, Pan Max & Chief of Interventional Cardiology and Electrophysiology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket, says wearables are being adopted faster than expected: "Wearables are coming in a much bigger fashion than we ever realized for monitoring various heart conditions, heart rate, and ECG... we have started encouraging them to use these wearable devices because it keeps them involved and keeps them in check."
Heart Rate Monitoring During Exercise
For heart patients, uncontrolled spikes in heart rate during exertion can be dangerous.
Dr Singh explains: "One advantage is when the person is exercising, he can know what his heart rate is... We don't want the heart rate to go higher than a particular level, so we advise them to keep their heart rate in check."
CDC guidelines also recommend heart-rate monitoring during rehabilitation or cardiac conditions requiring exercise control.
How Wearables Help Detect Arrhythmias
Most modern devices can capture a single-lead ECG. This helps identify irregular heart rhythms such as atrial fibrillation (AF), a major cause of stroke.
Dr Singh highlights the benefits: "Some of the wearable devices can check an ECG... it takes a record for thirty seconds or one minute and converts it into a PDF which can be shared with your physician. The basic advantage is to look at rhythm like atrial fibrillation."
Scientific studies published by the American Heart Association show that smartwatch ECG algorithms have high sensitivity for AF detection.
However, limitations remain. "These wearables do not check heart attacks," Dr Singh warns. They cannot capture multi-lead ECG changes required to diagnose myocardial infarction.
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The Limits Of Wearable ECGs
While helpful, wearables cannot record ECGs during unconscious episodes. Dr Singh explains the caveat clearly: "If one has to record an ECG, it has to be when he is fully conscious and awake... if he lost consciousness for a few seconds, the wearable cannot pick it up."
This means the devices work best for symptom-linked recording, not continuous diagnostic monitoring. He adds: "We advise patients - who have palpitations or feel giddy - to take an ECG during the episode... because just telling us that something lasted two minutes doesn't help."
How AI Wearables Help Predict Seizures
Seizure-prediction efforts are advancing rapidly, especially for people with epilepsy.
The International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) notes that abnormal electrical patterns, heart rate variability, and stress-response markers can help forecast seizures in some patients.
Dr Prasun Chatterjee, Chief - Geriatric Medicine, Artemis Hospitals, explains: "Wearable AI devices like smartwatches and fitness bands are changing how we keep an eye on our health by alerting us to serious problems like seizures and heart attacks before they happen."
What The Sensors Track
According to Dr Chatterjee: "These smart devices have advanced sensors that track heart rate, blood oxygen, skin temperature and even the body's electrical activity... AI algorithms can find strange patterns that could mean health problems."
Changes in autonomic activity, such as sudden heart-rate fluctuations or stress responses, often precede seizures by minutes. Research funded by the NIH supports these findings, showing promising results for seizure forecasting using wearable biosignals.
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Why AI Is Effective
Dr Chatterjee explains the machine-learning advantage: "AI can learn from each user's body data over time... compare patterns to millions of data points, and get better at finding irregularities." This personalisation improves prediction accuracy and reduces false alarms.
Early Warnings That Help Save Lives
If wearables detect early warning signs, patients can take preventive action like resting, avoiding triggers, taking fast-acting medicine, or calling for assistance. "These tools benefit doctors and keep people safe... Doctors can accurately track their status and develop treatment plans based on the records of their patient's health," Dr Chatterjee says.
For elderly patients living alone, wearables that detect falls, abnormal heart rhythms, or seizure-like motion can automatically alert caregivers or emergency services, further reducing response time.
The Future: Multi-Lead ECGs And More Accurate Predictions
Dr Singh believes the next leap is imminent: "In the future, wearables will be able to measure blood pressure, oxygen saturation... Over a period of time, I believe we will get ECG with multiple leads so I can really look at heart attack as a diagnosis."
Multi-lead ECG capability would allow wearable devices to detect ischemic changes, a breakthrough cardiologists are waiting for.
Tips For Safe And Effective Use Of AI Wearables
1. Do Not Self-Diagnose: Wearables are screening tools, not medical devices. Always confirm results with a doctor.
2. Use ECG features only when conscious: Devices cannot capture episodes during blackouts.
3. For epilepsy, track patterns consistently: Log sleep, stress and triggers because seizure prediction improves with more data.
4. Share reports with your doctor regularly: PDF ECG reports and trend dashboards improve diagnosis.
5. Set up emergency contacts: Enable SOS alerts, fall detection, and abnormal rhythm notifications where available.
6. Maintain device accuracy: Ensure firmware updates, regular sensor cleaning and correct wrist positioning.
7. Know the limitations: Heart attacks, multi-lead ECG changes and rare arrhythmias cannot be reliably detected yet.
AI-enabled wearables are reshaping how both patients and doctors manage risk for seizures, arrhythmias and cardiac distress. While they cannot replace medical care, they offer early insights that were impossible just a decade ago. With expert guidance, responsible use and better algorithms, these technologies are moving healthcare from reactive to predictive, giving people precious minutes that can save lives.
Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.
