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Study found that wearable sensors can be leveraged to link psychiatric illnesses, digital phenotypes, and genetic factors
Smartwatches can help doctors understand psychiatric illnesses: ©Sitthiphong - stock.adobe.com
Wearable technology like smartwatches could be a game-changer in understanding and treating psychiatric illnesses, according to a new study published in the journal Cell. Led by Mark Gerstein of Yale University and with contributions from Professor Diego Garrido Martín of the University of Barcelona, the study highlights how wearable sensors can be leveraged to link psychiatric illnesses, digital phenotypes, and genetic factors.
Using data from over 5,000 adolescents participating in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, researchers trained artificial intelligence models to predict psychiatric illnesses such as ADHD and anxiety. They also identified genetic factors associated with these conditions. "When processed correctly, smartwatch data can be used as a 'digital phenotype'," said Jason Liu, co-lead author of the study, in a statement. "We can use the digital phenotype almost as a diagnostic tool or a biomarker, and also bridge the gap between disease and genetics."
Transforming psychiatry with wearable data
Traditional psychiatric diagnostics often rely on subjective symptom assessments. However, this study takes a quantitative approach, using continuous data collected by smartwatches to provide new insights. The data included heart rate, calorie expenditure, physical activity, step count, and sleep metrics from adolescents aged 9 to 14.
“In traditional psychiatry, a doctor will assess your symptoms and you’ll either be diagnosed with an illness or won’t,” said Gerstein. “But in this study, we focused on processing the wearable data in a way that could both be leveraged to predict illnesses more comprehensively, and to better connect them to underlying genetic factors.”
Heart rate was found to be the most critical measure for predicting ADHD, while sleep quality and stages were key indicators for anxiety. “These findings suggest that smartwatch data can provide us with information about how physical and behavioral temporal patterns relate to different psychiatric illnesses,” Gerstein said.
The study also explored genetic factors, revealing 37 genes associated with ADHD by analyzing how genetic mutations affected smartwatch data. "Our methodology has made it possible, for the first time, to simultaneously analyze the relationship between genetics and the different measures provided by smartwatches," said Garrido Martín in a statement.
Interestingly, while continuous smartwatch data revealed genetic associations, traditional methods did not identify any genes directly tied to an ADHD diagnosis. This demonstrates the added value of using wearable data in genetic studies.
The researchers say this approach could have far-reaching applications beyond psychiatry, including neurological diseases and neurodegeneration. The method may also inspire a shift from traditional clinical diagnostics to quantitative behavioral measurements.
“This method holds great promise for addressing long-standing challenges in psychiatry and may ultimately reshape the way we understand the genetics and symptom structure of psychiatric disorders,” said Walter Roberts, co-senior author and assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, in a statement.