SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2024
Keeping Pace with Wearables: A Living Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews Evaluating the Accuracy of Consumer Wearable Technologies in Health Measurement.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Consumer-oriented (wearable) sleep technology: a systematic SWOT analysis and recommendations for athletes and fitness enthusiasts.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Pooled it
- Artificial Intelligence for the Analysis of Biometric Data from Wearables in Education: A Systematic Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Pooled it
- Drugs for Procedural Sedation and Analgesia in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Drugs in R&D · 2025Pooled it
- Intranasal low-dose dexmedetomidine alleviates propofol-associated postoperative sleep disturbance in female hysteroscopy patients: a randomized controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2026Trial
- Device and Data Access Considerations for Digital Health Studies Using Consumer-Grade Wearables: An Experience-Based Tutorial.Clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- From Sensors to Systems: Real-Time Human Performance and Health Monitoring.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Consumer Smartwatch Technology in Health and Performance Research: Validity, Limitations, and Real-World Applications.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Evaluating the Return on Investment of U.S. Army Holistic Health and Fitness Performance Teams: A Matched Difference-in-Differences Study of Readiness and Economic Outcomes.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Article
- Toward Precision Cardiac Rehabilitation: Current Limitations and Future Opportunities of Omics and Artificial Intelligence.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Digital Health Monitoring and Intervention Suite for Stress in Frontline Nurses: Prospective Cohort Trial.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Monitoring Steps and Heart Rate Using a Withings Smartwatch in Children and Adolescents With Cancer: Validation Study.JMIR cancer · 2026Article
- The utility of bluetooth and smartphone technology to detect peer contact.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Can consumer wearables support outpatient health monitoring for patients with post-acute infection syndromes? A systematic umbrella review of accuracy, validity, and clinical utility data.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Accuracy of VOMayo Clinic proceedings. Digital health · 2026Article
- Effects of electrocardiogram qrs detection algorithms in heart rate variability metrics.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Evaluation of off-the-shelf wearable for ambulatory clinical event monitoring and patient localization in hospital settings.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Accuracy of heart rate measurement using AirPods Pro 3 during graded treadmill exercise: A laboratory-based validation study.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Validity of Galaxy Watch for Estimating Energy Expenditure During Intermittent Running: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Influence of skin pigmentation on the accuracy and data quality of photoplethysmographic heart rate measurement during exercise.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- MITO-VATION: Feasibility of a technology-supported structured home exercise program in Mitochondrial Disease.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundConsumer wearable technologies have become ubiquitous, with clinical and non-clinical populations leveraging a variety of devices to quantify various aspects of health and wellness. However, the accuracy with which these devices measure biometric outcomes such as heart rate, sleep and physical activity remains unclear.
objectiveTo conduct a 'living' (i.e. ongoing) evaluation of the accuracy of consumer wearable technologies in measuring various physiological outcomes.
methodsA systematic search of the literature was conducted in the following scientific databases: MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase, Cinahl and SPORTDiscus via EBSCO. The inclusion criteria required systematic reviews or meta-analyses that evaluated the validation of consumer wearable devices against accepted reference standards. In addition to publication details, review protocol, device specifics and a summary of the authors' results, we extracted data on mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), pooled absolute bias, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and mean absolute differences.
resultsOf 904 identified studies through the initial search, 24 systematic reviews met our inclusion criteria; these systematic reviews included 249 non-duplicate validation studies of consumer wearable devices involving 430,465 participants (43% female). Of the commercially available wearable devices released to date, approximately 11% have been validated for at least one biometric outcome. However, because a typical device can measure a multitude of biometric outcomes, the number of validation studies conducted represents just 3.5% of the total needed for a comprehensive evaluation of these devices. For heart rate, wearables showed a mean bias of ± 3%. In arrhythmia detection, wearables exhibited a pooled sensitivity and specificity of 100% and 95%, respectively. For aerobic capacity, wearables significantly overestimated VO
conclusionsWhile consumer wearables show promise in health monitoring, a conclusive assessment of their accuracy is impeded by pervasive heterogeneity in research outcomes and methodologies. There is a need for standardised validation protocols and collaborative industry partnerships to enhance the reliability and practical applicability of wearable technology assessments. PROSPERO ID: CRD42023402703.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.