Evidence for positive long- and short-term effects of vaccinations against COVID-19 in wearable sensor metrics

Abstract

Vaccines are among the most powerful tools to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. They are highly effective against infection and substantially reduce the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, ICU admission, and death. However, their potential for attenuating long-term changes in personal health and health-related wellbeing after a SARS-CoV-2 infection remains a subject of debate. Such effects can be effectively monitored at the individual level by analyzing physiological data collected by consumer-grade wearable sensors. Here, we investigate changes in resting heart rate, daily physical activity, and sleep duration around a SARS-CoV-2 infection stratified by vaccination status. Data were collected over a period of 2 years in the context of the German Corona Data Donation Project with around 190,000 monthly active participants. Compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, we find that vaccinated individuals, on average, experience smaller changes in their vital data that also return to normal levels more quickly. Likewise, extreme changes in vitals during the acute phase of the disease occur less frequently in vaccinated individuals. Our results solidify evidence that vaccines can mitigate long-term detrimental effects of SARS-CoV-2 infections both in terms of duration and magnitude. Furthermore, they demonstrate the value of large-scale, high-resolution wearable sensor data in public health research.

Wearable Data Reveals distinct Characteristics of Individuals with Persistent Symptoms after a SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…fection compared to positive controls. Similar differences have been observed in previous studies when comparing SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative individuals [21,22]. Individuals that later reported persistent symptoms already exhibited an elevated average RHR (mean increase of 2 • 37 bpm/1 • 49 bpm) compared to positive/negative control cohorts prior to their SARS-CoV-2 testing.…”

“…To examine differences in behavioral changes around a SARS-CoV-2 infection between cohorts, we investigated the average step count for the cohort members. As the daily step count shows seasonal variations [21], we always assessed this metric by subtracting the respective mean value per day and device within the entire set of participants of the whole Corona Data Donation project, see also Fig. S4b.…”

Citizen data sovereignty is key to wearables and wellness data reuse for the common good

“…Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, wellness app and wearables data donation and reuse projects were initiated in Germany 17 , 18 , the UK 19 , and the US 18 , 20 . These projects provide important insights on how citizens engage with consent-based data donation, and also on how data donation can be practically delivered.…”

“…In the DETECT study in the US 20 , citizen-controlled and app-managed consented donation of time series activity and self-reported symptoms data was shown to help identify subtle changes indicating infection 21 . The German Corona Data Donation project collected wearable data of more than 190,000 monthly active resident participants over a period of almost 3 years for detection of COVID-19 and understanding the long-term impacts of a SARS-CoV-2 infection 17 . These projects showed the high engagement of citizens for consent-based data donation when they were enabled to frictionlessly stop participation at any time and for any data type 21 .…”

Mobility census for monitoring rapid urban development

“…To uncover emergent developments, analysis of real time and alternative data sources is desirable. For instance, Germany has utilized open-source mobility data to analyse social structures and contact patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic [14]. The introduction of high-frequency mobility data has enabled rapid analysis using unstructured and noisy, yet rich and comparatively unbiased, datasets, revealing the critical and diverse urban structures on much shorter timescales, e.g.…”