The use of consumer wearable devices (CWDs) to track health and fitness has rapidly expanded over recent years due to advances in technology. The general population now has the capability to continuously track vital signs, exercise output, and advanced health metrics. While understanding of basic health metrics may be intuitive (e.g. peak heart rate), more complex metrics are derived from proprietary algorithms, differ between device manufacturers, and may not historically be common in clinical practice (e.g. peak V̇O2, exercise recovery scores). With the massive expansion of data collected at an individual patient level, careful interpretation is imperative. In this review, we critically analyze common health metrics provided by CWDs, describe common pitfalls in CWD interpretation, provide recommendations for the interpretation of abnormal results, present the utility of CWDs in exercise prescription, examine health disparities and inequities in CWD use and development, and present future directions for research and development.
Editors
Editor-in-Chief
Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, MACC
CME Editor
Ragavendra R. Baliga, MD
Authors
Ahmad M. Slim, MD, FACC
Important Dates
Date of Release: July 10, 2023
Term of Approval/Date of CME/MOC Expiration: July 9, 2024