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Doctors Don't Know What to Do With Data from Fitness Trackers

posted by n1 on Wednesday December 02 2015, @01:07PM   
from the data-addiction dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

A number of doctors aren't so sure about the benefits of wearables eithers. A recent MIT Technology Review story found doctors from a number of specialities unsure about what to do with the data many of their fitness-tracking patients are bringing them."Clinicians can't do a lot with the number of steps you've taken in a day," Neil Sehgal, a senior research scientist at UCSF Center for Digital Health Innovation said. Andrew Trister, an oncologist and researcher at Sage Bionetworks echoed this sentiment. "[Patients] come in with these very large Excel spreadsheets, with all this information," he said. "I have no idea what to do with that."

One of the short-term problems for trackers is that their [sic] not actually reliable enough to be medically useful. The sorts of measurements that devices cheap enough to be commercial products tend only to focus on vague metrics that could just as easily be inferred from a short interview or basic examination. While certain health trackers have shown promise—such as the small implants that manage insulin for diabetics—they can also produce a hyper-vigilance and paranoia, leading to a degenerative process of over-managing issues that a person's body is already handling.

Are there Soylentils that do use fitness trackers regularly? Do they help you manage your health?

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Original Submission

• tricorders tricorders (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 02 2015, @01:21PM

  by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Wednesday December 02 2015, @01:21PM (#270616) Journal

  If they can't tell you what chemicals, nutrients, bacteria, and viruses are in your blood (without drawing blood), they are a waste of time.

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• Re:tricorders (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2015, @02:42PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2015, @02:42PM (#270675)

  Even if they could, the information would only be useful if there was some way to treat the problem.

  Looks like you have the JC, BK, and CMV viruses ... if you feel sick then we can help keep you comfortable and hope you don't die.

  Parent

• Re:tricorders (Score: 2) by snick on Wednesday December 02 2015, @03:15PM

  by snick (1408) on Wednesday December 02 2015, @03:15PM (#270710)

  I _like_ doctors that practice medicine with stone knives and bearskins.

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• Re:tricorders (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday December 02 2015, @04:15PM

  by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Wednesday December 02 2015, @04:15PM (#270760) Homepage

  False. If you are ordered to be doing a certain amount of exercise per day, then these devices being strapped to your wrist keep you honest. Several recent papers (not from US hospitals and doctors, mind you, from the EU) have passed through my hands recently saying precisely this. They're to stop the patient lieing, that's all. Which cuts off some unhelpful paths to follow.
  
  I think there was even a recent story here which in part repeated the point in a slightly different way but with a US perspective. (Worded as fitness trackers helping "cure" arthritis, as they forced the patient to do the exercise that retards the degradation of the condition, IIRC. 1-2 months ago, I'd guess.)
  
  They may not be particularly useful quantitatively, but qualitatively, they are.

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