Question: I’m a gastroenterologist and have several patients who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The patients experience frequent flare-ups of the chronic disease. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) allow diabetic patients to stay aware of their condition, but are there medical devices available for IBD patients to monitor their symptoms?
Mississippi Subscriber
Answer: Patients suffering from IBD experience several symptoms that can disrupt their daily lives. These symptoms include stomach pain, fatigue, nausea, and diarrhea. Recent research shows the effectiveness of wearable devices in recognizing, differentiating, and predicting IBD flare-ups.
Researchers from Mount Sinai published their findings from a study in Gastroenterology in January 2025. The researchers studied multiple physiological metrics that are indicative of IBD flare-ups and how those metrics change before IBD symptoms happen.
The study enrolled 309 participants from 36 states and used physiological data collected from Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Oura Ring devices. The participants also provided blood and stool samples as well as completed daily disease activity surveys so researchers could evaluate the inflammation.
The wearable devices collected a wide swath of data, including resting heart rate, heart rate variability, longitudinal heart rate, oxygenation, and step counts. After reviewing the data, Mount Sinai researchers found the circadian patterns of heart rate variability fluctuated significantly between times of flare-ups and remission. During IBD flare-ups, the researchers found that the heart rate and resting heart rate were higher on average, and the daily step count was lower.
The study also revealed that oxygenation, step counts, heart rate, heart rate variability, and resting heart rate all varied considerably up to seven weeks before an IBD flare-up period.
“Our study shows that commonly used wearable devices such as Apple Watches, Fitbits, and Oura Rings can be effective tools in monitoring chronic inflammatory diseases like IBD,” said the study’s first author Robert Hirten, MD, clinical director of the Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Health; and associate professor of medicine (gastroenterology), and artificial intelligence and human health, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in a press release. “This creates an opportunity to monitor the disease remotely outside the health care setting, in a continuous manner, and potentially in real time,” Hirten continued.
Mike Shaughnessy, BA, CPC, Development Editor, AAPC
