Measuring The Potential Of The NBA Smart Ring Called To Detect COVID-19

A smart ring prepared for NBA players (Twitter @theNBAcentral)

JAKARTA - The NBA is scheduled to start again on July 30th. Before starting, they offered players to wear smart rings that claim to track users' health data and even predict if users have symptoms of COVID-19 infection.

The $ 299 ring is designed to monitor sleep, pulse, movement, heart activity and temperature, according to the company's website. However, doctors still doubt the potential of this ring.

Oura ring, made by the Finnish company Oura. There isn't much information yet about how well the electronic devices built into it work.

"There's not a lot of data on that right now. There are a few studies I've seen - most of the studies are published by device manufacturers," Dr. Darria Long, emergency room doctor and assistant clinical professor at the University of Tennessee, told CNN Monday, June 22.

Other doctors contacted by CNN said there was too little solid information on the device for them to comment on more.

This ring is one of about half a dozen devices being studied to detect symptoms of a COVID-19 infection.

A team at Scripps Research is investigating the potential of the Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura and others to see if they can accurately monitor a person's baseline temperature, heart rate, sleep and daily movements. They also investigated whether changes to the data could be used to detect early onset of infection.

Finland-based Oura paid the University of California San Francisco and West Virginia University to conduct research on the devices they made, to see if the rings could provide useful data. However, there is little evidence to suggest that pulse and temperature can change before people see symptoms of an influenza-like infection.

Meanwhile, a study published earlier this year showed Fitbit's sleep and heart rate data involving 200,000 people overall appeared to be in sync with the changing seasonal flu epidemic.

Long said the potential for studying large groups of humans to see if any useful data could be gathered was exciting.

"But that doesn't replace other things we have to do, and other steps the NBA has to take in terms of protecting their players, protecting their staff," Long said. "They have to keep doing a series of tests and regular testing - everything else."

"Don't let it give us a false sense of security. Don't stop wearing your mask because your Oura rings say you are fine. You know, don't pass testing because everyone's Oura rings say they are fine."

Smart ring for NBA players (Twitter @theNBAcentral)

The Need for Evidence on the Accuracy of the Smart Ring Identification System

These smart ring makers must first prove that their devices can accurately measure and report things like a person's temperature and heart rate.

Smartwatches have been dealing with this problem for years. It's not always easy to monitor your heart rate from a point at the top of the wrist. Trying to measure it from a ring is a new and even less tested approach.

Then the manufacturer must demonstrate that this information can accurately detect infection.

"I don't care who - if it's Oura, or Fitbit or Apple - neither of them has been proven (accurate)," Long said.

"We can't use it to provide a false sense of security. We need to think of this as data and ideas in current research."

The Oura device is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for monitoring health data. In 2018, the FDA approved two Apple applications to monitor atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm irregularity that can lead to stroke, as well as a heartbeat that is too slow or unusually fast.

NBA health and safety protocol does mention a ring, but there is little to say about this.

"To promote efforts to identify possible disease, each critical player and staff member will be given the option to participate in a process using wearable devices (worn as rings) being studied and validated by the University of Michigan to produce a health assessment derived from metrics such as body temperature. and breathing and heart rate. The NBA will share additional details about the devices and processes for participation in an upcoming memo to the team, "reads the protocol.