Smartwatch health monitor for elderly

November2 · 16 January 2021 at 4:23PM

My mother recently had a stroke and I'm wondering why all elderly are not issued with some type of smartwatch to monitor their blood pressure and heart rate. I'd never even thought about it before seeing them more as sports aids. I'm sure if problems were flagged earlier and treatment started before the stroke or heart attack it'd not only save lives but also the amount of medical aftercare/cost incurred. So just wondering if anyone can recommend a suitable smartwatch, there are dozens and looking on health and age related sites for guidance hasn't really helped.

Gers · 17 January 2021 at 1:09PM

My elderly DM used to have a Fitbit to check on her heart rate as she suffers from AF and now heart failure. She used to look at it obsessively and worried about any increase, even taking to her GP and consultant. Eventually she was told by both that the results shown aren't accurate and shouldn't be relied on. DM had become worried for nothing as her condition was being managed by medication.

The problem would be, what do the elderly do with the information from a smartwatch? Call out their GP or paramedics each time? It's about interpretation of the data as opposed to just seeing any increase as an escalation of a condition.

Why just the elderly? Anyone can fall victim to a stroke or high blood pressure.

Heart rate can easily be checked by the traditional method of finger on pulse point on the wrist or neck. No need for a gadget.

November2 · 18 January 2021 at 9:41AM

Yes, that had occurred to me, I guess checking and rechecking and then interpreting would be the problem. She was already on medication and her blood pressure showed normal in December yet a stroke and high blood pressure followed within weeks.
I guess in this day and age with all the technology I began wondering why a monitoring system linked directly to the doctor's hasn't yet been invented. Anything overly suspicious would be highlighted via some application and doctor alerted to any possible health problems. Who knows, if my mother's blood pressure had been picked up a little earlier it might have prevented the stroke.