Survey: Health Trackers Emerge As IoT App

On the weighty matter of how best to use connected devices that will serve as the data-generating backbone of The Internet of Things (IoT), poll results released at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas indicate that Americans are willing to use monitoring devices to keep track of their waist line but not their sex life.

A&D Medical said it commissioned the online Connected Health Study in which the Harris Poll organization contacted more than 2,000 Americans in December 2014. The majority of respondents expressed concerns about being overweight, and 56 percent said they were interested in using connected devices that would automatically send vital signs to doctors. Blood pressure was the vital sign most often cited.

Along with weight concerns (33 percent), respondents said they would consider the use of connected devices to monitor chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes (25 percent), sleep patterns (23 percent), physical activity (22 percent) and diet (19 percent.

Coming in dead last in the connected health survey were sexual activity (5 percent) and fertility (4 percent).

“This survey shows that people really care about core health indicators like weight and blood pressure, and many want their doctors to be able to monitor them on a regular basis, with medical grade connected capabilities they can trust with their well-being,” Terry Duesterhoeft, president and CEO of A&D Medical, said in a statement announcing the survey findings.While about one-third of respondents said they would use connected monitoring devices to accurately track health data, 11 percent endorsed the concept, according to the survey, because “the Internet of Things is the future of medicine.”

Indeed, devices like FitBit activity trackers and development tools like Apple’s Healthkit, which allow health and fitness apps to work together, are making inroads in the consumer market as mobile devices proliferate. Healthkit allows health and fitness services to share data with new health apps and among services.

According to the survey, other reasons cited for growing adoption of health monitoring devices included: allowing patients and doctors to spot trends and patterns (29 percent); “peace of mind” about overall health (24 percent); keeping doctors informed in order to avoid surprises during doctor appointments (19 percent); 24/7 health monitoring (18 percent); growing connectivity means health monitoring devices should be connected (10 percent); and avoiding difficulty entering data into health apps (3 percent).

A&D Medical specializes in health and biometric measurement devices that are seen as an early IoT application. The devices include blood pressure monitors, activity trackers like step counters and other health monitoring devices.

A&D Medical said its online survey of 2,024 adults was conducted within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of A&D from Dec. 17 to 19, 2014. Since the online survey was not based on a probability sample, no estimate of theoretical sampling error could be calculated.

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