Population wide use of Fitbit devices could have huge impacts on healthcare and outcomes, according to a new Google Health study
A new paper from Google Health has looked into the long-term impact of using Fitbits to promote increased activity levels on chronic disease levels and healthcare costs.
The study modelled the effect of people using and wearing Fitbit-like devices, and how increased activity levels could affect outcomes.
And the findings are eye-opening.
“The Fitbit intervention was estimated to save approximately $6.5 million over 2 years and $8.5 million over 5 years for a cohort of 8,000 participants,” read the report. It shows what a massive impact increased activity and improved lifestyle factors could have.
In the modelling for the Google Health study, the team assumed that its cohort were healthy, but sedentary people.
“The target population of interest for the intervention in the analysis was insufficiently active adults in the U.S., aged 40-60 (mean age 50) who are insured by Commercial health plans. The age and sex distribution was based on 2022 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.53 The proportion of adults with insufficient physical activity in this population was informed by a recent nationwide survey study of 2,640 participants.”
The study is modelled on previous research that shows that wearables are effective in promoting activity in older adults.
But it’s an interesting piece of research around how wearables could impact our lives and societal issues – and itself concludes more research is needed.
It could spark questions about whether governments and health insurance providers could do more to incentivise the use of wearables.
We’ve seen some insurance companies offer incentives for hitting activity goals via wearables in the form of free coffees and discounted devices. But the idea of incentivising large segments of the population into using Fitbit-type devices is interesting – and as the research shows – potentially gamechanging.