The wearable that detects pregnancies

Last May, Ava announced that it was working with the University Hospital of Zurich to demonstrate the importance of the pulse in detecting fertility. The company indeed hopes that its bracelet will help women monitoring their fertility.

Today Ava announced a second research cycle with the University Hospital of Zurich. This study would show that Ava’s technology could soon go much further: detecting pregnancies.

The researchers found that the Ava bracelet was able to detect changes that occur in early pregnancy compared to the late luteal phase, when the lining of the uterus becomes thicker and prepares for possible pregnancy. This is what Ava would use to indicate when someone is pregnant. Ava could therefore one day become a pregnancy detection device.

The study involved approximately 158 non-pregnant women aged 20 to 40. In total, there have been 21 cases of early pregnancies. In comparison, women with early pregnancies saw a significant increase in their pulse rate, a lower rate of heart rate variability (-0.15) and a slight increase in temperature (0.2 degrees Celsius).

Researchers have concluded that current wearables, such as Ava, are able to detect body changes related to early pregnancy, so many other wearables may one day tell you if you are pregnant.

"This is only a first reading of the study results," said Ava CEO Lea von Bidder. "We need more research to equip our wearable with this functionality. We need a lot more clinical trials to build a data set large enough to create an algorithm. Either way, the fact that this is possible is an exciting step forward. "

AB SMART HEALTH REVIEW