The Use of Wearables in Clinical Trials

Lots of people are already using their own wearables to help monitor their health and wellbeing. These devices can keep a check on everything from how many steps a wearer is taking, to their heart rate, to how well they are sleeping at night. But wearable technology can do so much more, and it could be a real benefit to Paid Medical Trials and drug development. Trials 4 us offer paid medical trials that help to provide new treatments for many different illnesses and wearables my make up some of the data that is provided for this kind of trials in the future.

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How Does it Work?

Wearable technology can be easily incorporated into everyday life. It is likely that you already know someone who wears some sort of wrist band or watches to help them monitor their diet and exercise regimes.

Their prevalence means a wearable associated with a trial can be worn without a participant feeling conspicuous about it, and the sensors used in those devices can help pick up sensitive data that can be fed back to teams running clinical trials.

This kind of data can be used to assess exactly what is affecting participants, as well as their reactions to treatments between office visits. That means more accurate information for researchers and clinical staffing teams running the trials.

It can also mean increased safety for participants of drug development trials because any issues should be identified and dealt with quickly as the evidence will be readily available to those in charge.

Other Benefits of Wearables

As well as allowing researchers to get a better idea of what is going on with participants, it seems wearable technology can have further benefits for users. A study published in the British Medical Journal suggests using wearables makes it easier for patients to self-manage conditions including diabetes and asthma.

Another benefit for research teams is the ability to get an insight into the lifestyle of a participant, which is not something they would necessarily be able to factor into a study with any real accuracy otherwise.

Without a participant detailing changes to their day to day activity – such as starting a new exercise program – it may be difficult to identify the reasons for alterations in the effectiveness of treatment. With data from a wearable device, those questions could be raised by researchers.

Embracing new technology could help clinical trials and drug developers take steps forward by using raw data in conjunction with traditional methods.