The most popular brands of wearable devices used in clinical trials include Actigraph, Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, Polar, Samsung and Whoop, according to a new report from Litmus Health.

The report surveys 190 wearables that comply with regulatory guidance and are currently in use in trials, Litmus said. For example, Actigraph devices, which are FDA cleared as Class II medical devices, have been mentioned in nearly 1,000 different trial reviews in PubMed, with sleep studies being the most prominent.

Actigraph’s older wearable watch device, the GT9X Link, is one of the most popular wearables used in clinical research. This device includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate monitor and magnetometer. Also, the GT9X provides an accurate fall detector, which may be particularly useful for studies involving the elderly.

Clinical trials are also increasingly including Apple’s iWatch, with more than 100 research studies reporting the use of this wearable. In 2018, Apple opened to researchers its Health Records API, which allows for integration of different apps that use health record data. This system gives patients access to their encrypted health information, but only if they have an iPhone.

For a head-to-head comparison of wearables available for use in clinical trials, you can read Litmus Health’s second annual device census report: https://bit.ly/3nBuYOs.