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Chicago, IL – Wearable technology is revolutionizing healthcare, offering physicians novel tools to monitor patients’ cardiovascular health. A groundbreaking study, presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session 2025, introduces a new combined metric that promises to provide a more reliable indicator of heart health than traditional measurements.
Zhanlin Chen, a medical student at Northwestern University, developed this innovative metric by combining two commonly tracked data points: daily step count and average resting heart rate. “Daily steps are a known predictor of cardiovascular health,” Chen explained. “But it is an indirect indicator. It [only] shows how much we move, which we hope translates into predicting outcomes.”
Recognizing the limitations of individual metrics, Chen proposed dividing the average daily heart rate by the number of steps taken. “When we integrate those two measures — heart rate and step count — that is a better indicator of how their heart is doing than those two measures alone,” he stated.
To test this hypothesis, Chen and his colleagues analyzed data from approximately 7,000 adults participating in the All of Us Research Program, a nationwide study supported by the National Institutes of Health. Participants provided data from their Fitbit smartwatches and electronic health records.
The study revealed a significant correlation between an elevated daily heart rate per step and adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Individuals in the top 25% of this metric were:
- Twice as likely to have type 2 diabetes.
- 1.7 times as likely to have heart failure.
- 1.6 times as likely to have high blood pressure.
- 1.4 times as likely to have coronary atherosclerosis.
Notably, no association was found between the new metric and the risk of stroke or heart attack.
Eugene Yang, MD, a cardiologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, praised the study’s potential, emphasizing the exciting future of wearable technology in medicine. “We’re entering a really exciting time,” Yang said. “If you are able to measure many things accurately — blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate, daily activity, sleep — that would be much stronger in terms of prediction of risk.”
While Yang stressed the need for further validation through more granular randomized or prospective studies, he acknowledged the promising nature of Chen’s findings.
Chen hopes that his new metric will be validated in future research and eventually integrated into clinical calculations of heart disease risk, which currently lacks consideration for fitness levels and other crucial physiological factors. “We could look at incorporating wearables data into cardiovascular disease risk estimates,” Chen said. “That hopefully would translate into changes in medical interventions and risk stratification and screening.”
Disclaimer: This news article is based on information presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session 2025. The findings are preliminary and require further validation through additional studies. Readers should consult with healthcare professionals before making any decisions related to their health based on this information. Wearable technology should not replace professional medical advice.(https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/new-smartwatch-metric-points-overall-heart-health-2025a10007kk)
