Stressing Out Over Wearable Tech
Have you heard of the “white coat effect”?
I’m sure most have, but for those that have not, here’s a quick definition.
Basically, the white coat effect occurs when your blood pressure is measured in a doctor’s office or hospital setting and it is slightly higher than usual.
Various studies/theories attribute this to the stress/anxiety that doctor appointments can create.
I think some offices are aware of this and try to ameliorate the effects, by giving you a few minutes to relax once you are in the examination room. Unfortunately, it seems like the more you wait, the more antsy you get, resulting in more stress, and there goes your blood pressure again. A vicious cycle.
I mention this because I recently had a family member experience the “Wearable Technology Effect”. I’m not sure that’s an actual condition, but if it isn’t I’m claiming the trademark to it.
Anyway, this family member had one of the latest hi-tech watches – the kind that can monitor all sorts of bodily functions like heart rate, temperature, blood oxygen, etc. I think it could even tell time – but we could never figure that out.
This person works a very busy job, and noticed that their heart rate was frequently elevated. A trip to the doctor (no word on the white coat effect) chalked it up to stress – and advised trying to relax, exercise, etc.
And here is where that vicious cycle hit again. Because they were hyper-focused on reducing their stress level, the mere act of wearing the watch that reported and warned of an elevated heart rate caused stress. It got so bad, that this person stopped wearing the watch.
Which leads me to wonder about the new wearable technologies now being used for clinical trials. With the current push to decentralize clinical trials many sponsors are now relying on the patients in the trials to report their data based on an electronic wearable device.
If you are in a clinical trial because you have high blood pressure, and the device you are wearing continuously tells you (or worse, warns you) that your blood pressure is high, you find yourself in that loop again. How long will it be before that clinical trial participant just stops reporting results?
Will this happen frequently? Will it impact the successful completion of clinical trials? Will technology providers be able to surmount these issues?
No need to stress about it. Worrying too much will only raise your blood pressure – and we know what that leads to.
Mike Auerbach
Editor In Chief
[email protected]
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