Project details:
In May 2025, Bristol ESG were asked to undertake a rapid evidence map of the use of wearable technology for health and care outcomes. The review is funded by the NIHR Evidence Synthesis Programme (project number: NIHR177344).
Project status: completed
Contact: bristol-esg@bristol.ac.uk
What is the problem?
Wearable devices are small electronic gadgets that people can wear on their body, like smartwatches or fitness bands. They can track things like heart rate, sleep or steps. More people are using these devices—both in everyday life and in healthcare—to help spot health problems early or improve health.
We wanted to understand what evidence is available about wearable devices. We looked for research reviews (called systematic reviews) that studied how these wearable devices are used in three main ways: finding diseases earlier (use case (UC) 1); helping people live healthier lives (e.g. more exercise, better sleep or diet; UC2); and checking if someone is ready for surgery or monitoring them after surgery (UC3).
What did we do?
We searched online databases for reviews published from January 1, 2020 to May 21, 2025. We looked for reviews that studied wearable devices used in everyday life and whether they helped detect diseases earlier (for UC1), helped improve healthy habits (for UC2) or were useful before or after surgery (for UC3). From each review, we wrote down the type of device, what it was used for, and the main results. We used special software (EPPI Mapper) to create a visual map of all the findings.
What did we find out?
We included 183 reviews: 52 for UC1 (early disease detection); 110 for UC2 (healthy lifestyle); and 23 for UC3 (surgery monitoring). Two reviews covered both UC2 and UC3. 79 of the reviews focused only on wearables. The other 106 included wearables as part of a wider group of tools. Types of devices included smartwatches, wristbands, smart glasses, smart clothes, rings, patches, and sensors worn on different body parts like the chest, ankle, or ear. For UC1, the main diseases studied were heart conditions, mental health, brain conditions, infections, and others. For UC2, most reviews looked at increasing physical activity, with others on sleep, diet, smoking, and alcohol. For UC3, most reviews were about recovery after bone surgeries, with a few on general surgery.
Publication details
TBC
