- Wearable devices and smartphone data can track environmental exposures and health effects in real time
- Participants wore Fitbit smartwatches and completed mood surveys multiple times daily for about a month
- GPS data estimated exposure to heat and pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide
Wearable devices, along with location data from smartphones and real-time surveys, could help capture environmental exposures and their immediate physical and emotional effects, a new pilot study has shown. "People move through many different environments each day, and this approach lets us capture that in real time," Sameera Ramjan, a doctoral student in The City University of New York Graduate Center Psychology program, said. "We were struck by how quickly the data revealed patterns -- changes in heart rate variability, shifts in mood -- that lined up with where participants had been and what they were exposed to," Ramjan said.
The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research Formative Research, analysed data recorded via participants' Fitbit smartwatches that were worn for roughly a month. The participants also completed mood surveys known as ecological momentary assessments several times a day.
The data was combined with smartphone location tracking to estimate exposure to heat and air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and sulphur dioxide based on where the participants spent time throughout the day.
"This study demonstrates that the multimodal integration of wearable devices, GPS tracking, and EMA (ecological momentary assessment) is feasible for capturing real-time environmental exposures and concurrent health outcomes in young adults," the authors wrote.
Analysis revealed that on days with a higher exposure to heat and nitrogen dioxide, the participants showed changes in heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's ability to recover from stress.
A higher exposure to sulphur dioxide was associated with increased feelings of nervousness and hopelessness, while a higher heat exposure was linked to lower self-reported sadness -- a counterintuitive finding that the researchers said may reflect seasonal patterns in outdoor activity and social engagement during warmer weather.
"Even in a small pilot, we could see that the relationship between environmental conditions and people's physiological and emotional responses is more complex than traditional methods can capture," Melissa Blum, a medical student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, US, said.
"By combining wearable sensors, GPS data, and real-time surveys, we're able to build individualised exposure profiles that move with people throughout their day. That's a real shift from relying on stationary monitors or home addresses," Blum said.
The study is the first to combine wearables, mood surveys and location data to measure environmental exposures and immediate health impacts, demonstrating how consumer technology and environmental epidemiology could be integrated to develop personalised approaches for preventive medicine, senior author Nomura, a distinguished professor of Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center said.
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