September 4, 2023

What if it have been doable to foretell and warn of despair like we forecast extreme climate? Thunderstorms usually are not predicted by will increase in thunderstorms, which is how we at the moment predict despair — by monitoring signs over time. However as a substitute, meteorologists monitor options and environmental fluctuations, pointing to approaching modifications to tell the general public to allow them to put together for the approaching storm. Equally, researchers at Leiden College are monitoring multimodal information of contributors to assist establish early warning indicators of depressive episodes with the objective to facilitate early, personalised prevention.

Predicting and Stopping Melancholy

Melancholy is a standard and debilitating affliction. On condition that solely 50% of sufferers enhance below preliminary remedy^1,2, specialists agree that prevention is the best technique to change despair’s world illness burden. The WARN-D research, a 5-year analysis mission led by Affiliate Professor Dr. Eiko Fried at Leiden College, is utilizing the Garmin vívosmart® 4 health tracker to observe 2,000 college students within the Netherlands for warning indicators of despair, which may result in prevention sooner or later.

Finding out is usually a hectic time, and a few college students expertise psychological well being issues equivalent to despair throughout their schooling. To grasp these stressors and experiences higher, the research is among the first on the planet to actually deal with the every day lives of scholars, utilizing smartphones and Garmin health trackers as information assortment instruments. The collected information will assist researchers to construct the personalised early warning system WARN-D, which can be out there at no cost as a smartphone app.

Garmin’s Function in Well being and Exercise Monitoring

The researchers observe the contributors for years and attempt to predict upcoming depressive episodes based mostly on the collected information. To do that, contributors put on a Garmin vívosmart® 4 health tracker 24/7, reply every day questions on their smartphone for the primary 3 months and sync their information utilizing the Garmin Join™ smartphone app. The Garmin Well being API collects the information and transfers it to the analysis crew through the Fitrockr platform. The vívosmart® 4 health tracker will document sleep phases and length, exercise, coronary heart charge, stress, and Physique Battery™³. Researchers imagine that sleep information, particularly, could also be predictive of upcoming transitions into psychological well being issues.

For the researchers at Leiden College, Garmin supplied an inexpensive know-how package deal that helps compliance with strict European privateness legal guidelines, which is of significant significance with delicate private information.

About Fitrockr and Garmin Well being

Fitrockr is a product suite of Digital Rebels GmbH — a software program firm based mostly in Berlin. Its analysis and analytics platform permits organisations to simply handle and synchronise Garmin smartwatches with entry to high-resolution uncooked information, impartial internet hosting, real-time information streams, and direct evaluation and export. Fitrockr is among the deepest built-in know-how implementations of the Garmin Well being API and SDK, offering Garmin Well being company options since 2018.

For extra info, go to Fitrockr at www.fitrockr.com or be taught extra about Garmin Well being Enterprise Well being Options at www.garmin.com/well being.

Americas Garmin Well being Analysis Grant Powered by Fitrockr

Garmin Well being and Fitrockr are additionally proud to assist progressive analysis via grant applications that present the instruments to conduct analysis research based mostly on well being information from Garmin smartwatches. Whether or not it’s entry to high-resolution uncooked information, impartial information internet hosting or full wearable system management, Garmin merchandise assist advance well being analysis fields in a sustainable method.

Researchers can begin making use of for this grant on Sept 1, 2023. The deadline to use is Nov 30 .

All grant winners will obtain 5 Garmin wearables, three months of limitless entry to the Fitrockr platform for as much as 50 customers and a winner’s certificates.

Need to be taught extra about associated tasks? Then learn this weblog about how information from Garmin health trackers assist researchers in panic assault prediction.

Garmin gadgets usually are not designed or supposed to observe or diagnose ailments or any medical circumstances. Discover info on metric accuracy right here.

¹ Cuijpers, P., Karyotaki, E., Reijnders, M., & Huibers, M. J. H. (2018). Who advantages from psychotherapies for grownup despair? A meta-analytic replace of the proof meta-analytic replace of the proof. Cognitive Behaviour Remedy, 6073, 1–40. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2017.1420098

² Khan, A., & Brown, W. A. (2015). Antidepressants versus placebo in main despair: An summary. World Psychiatry, 14, 294–300. https://doi.org/10.1002/wps.20241

³ See Garmin.com/ataccuracy