Wearable Devices Enable Long COVID Patients to Decrease Symptom Severity: A Case Series From Pilot User Testing

Abstract

Purpose: Long COVID is a debilitating condition that is estimated to affect over 65M individuals across the world after a Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and has no broadly effective treatments. People with Long COVID have reported that pacing helps manage their symptoms, but it is difficult to implement. Based on experiences in the Long COVID community, we hypothesized that wearable devices can help individuals pace and reduce their Long COVID symptom severity. Methods: To inform the design of a larger study, we performed user testing by distributing Garmin® devices, the study surveys and pacing educational materials to 11 individuals with Long COVID, and conducting interviews to learn about their experience. Results: Eight of the 9 (89%) individuals reported that the information provided was helpful for their symptom management, and 2 testers did not complete the final survey. Four (44%) users had not used a wearable device before and none had trouble setting up their device. Due to the limited sample size and lack of control group, generalizability is unknown. Conclusions: The most user testers reported that the study materials were helpful for their symptom management. These results are a promising indication of the potential for wearable devices and educational materials to help individuals with Long COVID, and potentially other chronic conditions such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), decrease symptom severity.