NIH: Underserved Communities Underrepresented in Wearables Medical Study

Apple Watch SE - Image via Apple

28 APRIL 2022 - Smart watches like Apple Watch are the future of personal health.* 

Ooo! There’s and asterisk! What does it say? It says:

*Statement applies to people who can afford them.

9 to 5 Mac ran a piece Wednesday on a new study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). According to the docs who say “nih,” there are “inequalities within the ownership of smartwatches and wearable technology.” The piece has the report saying, “The study finds that those who own smartwatches tend to be young, white, educated, and wealthy.” 

For this particular study, what the NIH is trying to do is build “a health database representative of the United States.” When it came to wearables though, the info they got back was mostly from the white and well off. Quoting the study:

[R]espondents who were interested in using an activity monitor made it clear: their lack of use wasn’t because they were unwilling to use devices or contribute the resulting data to research. They cited cost barriers (49%), the need for support in using the devices (19%), and a lack of a clear understanding of the potential value of these devices to their health (16%).

If I were being cynical, I would argue that a health study that’s too expensive, hard to manage, and pretty opaque is representative of the U.S. According to 9 to 5 Mac:

It’s not that people who don’t fit these measures don’t want smartwatches, it’s that the devices are too expensive. Since high costs of wearable technology turns off underrepresented groups, it leaves them excluded from medical research involving these devices.

{whispers} it also leaves them excluded from the benefits of these devices