The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Are Currently Available Wearable Devices for Activity Tracking and Heart Rate Monitoring Accurate, Precise, and Medically Beneficial?
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: The new wave of wireless technologies, fitness trackers, and body sensor devices can have great impact on healthcare systems and the quality of life. However, there have not been enough studies to prove the accuracy and precision of these trackers. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy, precision, and overall performance of seventeen wearable devices currently available compared with direct observation of step counts and heart rate monitoring. METHODS: Each participant in this study used three accelerometers at a time, running the three corresponding applications of each tracker on an Android or iOS device simultaneously. Each participant was instructed to walk 200, 500, and 1,000 steps. Each set was repeated 40 times. Data was recorded after each trial, and the mean step count, standard deviation, accuracy, and precision were estimated for each tracker. Heart rate was measured by all trackers (if applicable), which support heart rate monitoring, and compared to a positive control, the Onyx Vantage 9590 professional clinical pulse oximeter. RESULTS: The accuracy of the tested products ranged between 79.8% and 99.1%, while the coefficient of variation (precision) ranged between 4% and 17.5%. MisFit Shine showed the highest accuracy and precision (along with Qualcomm Toq), while Samsung Gear 2 showed the lowest accuracy, and Jawbone UP showed the lowest precision. However, Xiaomi Mi band showed the best package compared to its price. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy and precision of the selected fitness trackers are reasonable and can indicate the average level of activity and thus average energy expenditure.
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“The accuracy and precision of wearable devices typically range from 92% to 99% [110].”
From Review of Wearable Devices and Data Collection Considerations for Connected Health (2021) · cites this paper as [110]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“Smartwatches such as the Apple Watch, Samsung Gear S2, and Pebble Watch are also reported to have acceptable validity and reliability, at least for measuring steps during overground walking [29].”
From Step Counting: A Review of Measurement Considerations and Health-Related Applications (2017) · cites this paper as [29]
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“other studies have used suboptimal reference methods, such as the chest straps45–47 or pulse oximeters48, which themselves have a degree of error (varying between 0 and 40 bpm when compared to ECGs44).”
From Guidelines for wrist-worn consumer wearable assessment of heart rate in biobehavioral research (2020) · cites this paper as [48]
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Cites
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Case, M. A., Burwick, H. A., Volpp, K. G., & Patel, M. S. (2015) · JAMA · doi:10.1001/jama.2014.17841 · Cited by 694
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Henriksen, A., Haugen Mikalsen, M., Woldaregay, A. Z., Muzny, M., Hartvigsen, G., Hopstock, L. A., & Grimsgaard, S. (2018) · Journal of Medical Internet Research · doi:10.2196/jmir.9157 · Cited by 542
A Survey on Wearable Technology: History, State-of-the-Art and Current Challenges
Ometov, A., Shubina, V., Klus, L., Skibińska, J., Saafi, S., Pascacio, P., Flueratoru, L., Quezada-Gaibor, D., Chukhno, N., Chukhno, O., et al. (2021) · Computer Networks · doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2021.108074 · Cited by 572
Step Counting: A Review of Measurement Considerations and Health-Related Applications
Bassett, D. R., Toth, L. P., LaMunion, S. R., & Crouter, S. E. (2017) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-016-0663-1 · Cited by 460
Review of Wearable Devices and Data Collection Considerations for Connected Health
Vijayan, V., Connolly, J. P., Condell, J., McKelvey, N., & Gardiner, P. (2021) · Sensors · doi:10.3390/s21165589 · Cited by 435
Accuracy of wrist-worn heart rate monitors
Wang, R., Blackburn, G., Desai, M., Phelan, D., Gillinov, L., Houghtaling, P., & Gillinov, M. (2017) · JAMA Cardiology · doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2016.3340 · Cited by 386
Metadata
- Authors
- El-Amrawy, F., & Nounou, M. I.
- Affiliations
- Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
- Alexandria University (EG)
- Corresponding author
- Nounou, Mohamed Ismail
- Venue
- Healthcare Informatics Research
- Published
- 2015
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 315
- ISSN
- 2093-3681 (ISSN-L)
- 2093-369X
- PMC
- PMC4659890
- OpenAlex
- W2175170030
- Cited by
- 287
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 15
- FWCI
- 23.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Healthcare Informatics Research (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Alexandria University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Physical Activity and Health
- Keywords
- wearable devices, wearable activity trackers, activity monitoring, step count accuracy, heart rate monitoring, accelerometer, pulse oximeter, energy expenditure estimation
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