Oura Study Finds Covid-19 can Affect Your Biometrics Weeks After Infection

Smart ring company Oura has recently published a peer-reviewed study in the journal Digital Biomarkers. The study, titled “Feasibility of Measuring Physiological Responses to Breakthrough Infections and COVID-19 Vaccine Using a Wearable Ring Sensor,” explored the physiological response to COVID-19 infections in vaccinated and unvaccinated users of their smart ring product.

The study was conducted by a team of in-house research scientists who took anonymized biometric data to track the body’s response to both infections and vaccinations. Their findings showed that the physiological response to COVID infections was greater in unvaccinated users of the smart ring.

The study focused on various biometric data points such as breathing rate, body temperature trends, heart rate variability fluctuations, sleep efficiency, and resting heart rate data in the month prior to and following an infection or vaccine. By analyzing these metrics, the researchers were able to identify larger fluctuations in those who didn’t report having a vaccine.

While wearables show promise in detecting illnesses, there hasn’t been too much progress on the COVID front. However, Oura’s study indicates that there may be value in exploring the biometric data of smart ring wearers to better understand the physiological response to COVID infections and vaccinations.

At the start of the pandemic, many wearables makers and researchers rushed to see whether smartwatches and fitness trackers could detect COVID-19. It’s now 2023, and some wearable makers are still sifting through the data to see what can be learned from the past three years. Oura’s study is an example of this ongoing exploration, and their findings could contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between biometrics and COVID-19.

Researchers analyzed biometric data from 838 users who reported positive COVID-19 infections and 20,267 users who received a COVID-19 vaccine. The study examined changes in temperature, heart rate variability, resting heart rate, breathing rate, and sleep efficiency in the month before and after infection or vaccination, focusing on identifying biomarkers that can be used to predict health conditions and outcomes.

Table 1 from the study shows the Dataset demographics for the vaccination and infection datasets. The third column reports users with putative breakthrough infections.

Physiological responses were converted to z-scores from a 28-day baseline period 35-7 days before the vaccination or 48-21 days before the infection report.

The study found that wearables, such as the Oura Ring, can be predictors of health conditions. Specifically, the study found significant changes in the five biomarkers beginning around two days before a reported positive infection, which lasted for approximately 10 days afterward. The response was greater in unvaccinated users, which reinforces the importance of vaccination in preventing severe COVID-19 infections.

Interestingly, the study also found that physiological responses to the Delta variant were greater than responses to other variants, particularly in terms of the cardiac response. The response to vaccination was less dramatic than with an infection, lasting only up to four days after the shot. The study also found that users under 35 years of age had a greater response than those over 50.

While the Oura study provides valuable insights into the use of wearables in monitoring health conditions, it does have some limitations that need to be acknowledged. Firstly, it is not a clinical study as no volunteers were recruited, and it wasn’t a double-blind, randomized trial which is considered the gold standard in clinical research. Instead, the study pulled data from existing Oura users in accordance with its terms of use and privacy policy, which grants Oura the ability to use anonymized, aggregated data to develop new features or for research purposes.

Moreover, the company identified which users had COVID-19 or received vaccinations based on self-reported tags that users can add to data from a particular day. Since Oura only looked at aggregated averages for the data, it did not require users to opt in as a more rigorous study involving individualized data would. For example, Oura previously conducted a study with the University of California San Francisco on temperature and COVID-19, which required individualized data. It’s worth noting that working with aggregated anonymized user data is a common practice among wearable companies.

But although the study has its limitations, the findings could still have important implications for healthcare. For one, it reinforces the potential of wearables such as the Oura Ring to be a predictor of health conditions, particularly in detecting COVID-19 infections. As the pandemic continues, wearables may be useful in identifying potential outbreaks and preventing their spread.

This study by Oura on biometrics in COVID-19 in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated smart ring wearers shows that wearables can detect physiological changes after infection. However, the study does not demonstrate whether these devices can differentiate between the flu and COVID-19. This presents a new challenge for wearables makers to develop more advanced features that can distinguish between the two. This will require clinical validation, regulatory approval, and integration with various wearable ecosystems.

There are also concerns that such features may be gatekept and restricted to specific ecosystems, making it difficult for users to access this technology. Despite these challenges, the potential for wearables to detect illnesses and prevent the spread of infectious diseases is promising, and further research and development in this area is warranted.