Can mHealth Technology Help Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Catherine P Adans-Dester; Stacy Bamberg; Francesco P Bertacchi; Brian Caulfield; Kara Chappie; Danilo Demarchi; M Kelley Erb; Juan Estrada; Eric E Fabara; Michael Freni; Karl E Friedl; Roozbeh Ghaffari; Geoffrey Gill; Mark S Greenberg; Reed W Hoyt; Emil Jovanov; Christoph M Kanzler; Dina Katabi; Meredith Kernan; Colleen Kigin; Sunghoon I Lee; Steffen Leonhardt; Nigel H Lovell; Jose Mantilla; Thomas H McCoy Jr; Nell Meosky Luo; Glenn A Miller; John Moore; Derek O'Keeffe; Jeffrey Palmer; Federico Parisi; Shyamal Patel; Jack Po; Benito L Pugliese; Thomas Quatieri; Tauhidur Rahman; Nathan Ramasarma; John A Rogers; Guillermo U Ruiz-Esparza; Stefano Sapienza; Gregory Schiurring; Lee Schwamm; Hadi Shafiee; Sara Kelly Silacci; Nathaniel M Sims; Tanya Talkar; William J Tharion; James A Toombs; Christopher Uschnig; Gloria P Vergara-Diaz; Paul Wacnik; May D Wang; James Welch; Lina Williamson; Ross Zafonte; Adrian Zai; Yuan-Ting Zhang; Guillermo J Tearney; Rushdy Ahmad; David R Walt; Paolo Bonato

doi:10.1109/OJEMB.2020.3015141

Can mHealth Technology Help Mitigate the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

IEEE Open J Eng Med Biol. 2020 Aug 7:1:243-248. doi: 10.1109/OJEMB.2020.3015141. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Catherine P Adans-Dester^{1

2}, Stacy Bamberg^{1

2}, Francesco P Bertacchi^{1

2}, Brian Caulfield^{1

2}, Kara Chappie^{1

2}, Danilo Demarchi^{1

2}, M Kelley Erb^{1

2}, Juan Estrada^{1

2}, Eric E Fabara^{1

2}, Michael Freni^{1

2}, Karl E Friedl^{1

2}, Roozbeh Ghaffari^{1

2}, Geoffrey Gill^{1

2}, Mark S Greenberg^{1

2}, Reed W Hoyt^{1

2}, Emil Jovanov^{1

2}, Christoph M Kanzler^{1

2}, Dina Katabi^{1

2}, Meredith Kernan^{1

2}, Colleen Kigin^{1

2}, Sunghoon I Lee^{1

2}, Steffen Leonhardt^{1

2}, Nigel H Lovell^{1

2}, Jose Mantilla^{1

2}, Thomas H McCoy Jr^{1

2}, Nell Meosky Luo^{1

2}, Glenn A Miller^{1

2}, John Moore^{1

2}, Derek O'Keeffe^{1

2}, Jeffrey Palmer^{1

2}, Federico Parisi^{1

2}, Shyamal Patel^{1

2}, Jack Po^{1

2}, Benito L Pugliese^{1

2}, Thomas Quatieri^{1

2}, Tauhidur Rahman^{1

2}, Nathan Ramasarma^{1

2}, John A Rogers^{1

2}, Guillermo U Ruiz-Esparza^{1

2}, Stefano Sapienza^{1

2}, Gregory Schiurring^{1

2}, Lee Schwamm^{1

2}, Hadi Shafiee^{1

2}, Sara Kelly Silacci^{1

2}, Nathaniel M Sims^{1

2}, Tanya Talkar^{1

2}, William J Tharion^{1

2}, James A Toombs^{1

2}, Christopher Uschnig^{1

2}, Gloria P Vergara-Diaz^{1

2}, Paul Wacnik^{1

2}, May D Wang^{1

2}, James Welch^{1

2}, Lina Williamson^{1

2}, Ross Zafonte^{1

2}, Adrian Zai^{1

2}, Yuan-Ting Zhang^{1

2}, Guillermo J Tearney^{1

2}, Rushdy Ahmad^{1

2}, David R Walt^{1

2}, Paolo Bonato^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Paolo Bonato is with the Department of Physical Medicine and RehabilitationHarvard Medical School at Spaulding Rehabilitation HospitalBostonMA02129USA.
² Wyss InstituteHarvard UniversityCambridgeMA02138USA.

Abstract

Goal: The aim of the study herein reported was to review mobile health (mHealth) technologies and explore their use to monitor and mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A Task Force was assembled by recruiting individuals with expertise in electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes (ePRO), wearable sensors, and digital contact tracing technologies. Its members collected and discussed available information and summarized it in a series of reports. Results: The Task Force identified technologies that could be deployed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and would likely be suitable for future pandemics. Criteria for their evaluation were agreed upon and applied to these systems. Conclusions: mHealth technologies are viable options to monitor COVID-19 patients and be used to predict symptom escalation for earlier intervention. These technologies could also be utilized to monitor individuals who are presumed non-infected and enable prediction of exposure to SARS-CoV-2, thus facilitating the prioritization of diagnostic testing.

Keywords: COVID-19; digital contact tracing; electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO); mHealth technology; wearable sensors.