U.S. trial finds wearable health technology improves doctor interactions for chronic pain patients

Purdue Pharma and U.S. healthcare provider Geisinger have an ongoing wearable trial in which patients use an Apple Watch and iPhone equipped with a pain application (Pain Watch) to measure daily patient-reported pain scores and breakthrough pain, medication use, physical activity and sleep quality. The study found participants:

• Regularly accessed the Pain App, with a median use frequency of 67.2% of days;
• Documented multiple body locations of pain in a single day, with at least 50% of days with pain score entries including up to four body parts; and
• Regularly recorded use of alternative, non-pharmacologic therapies, with 96% recording stretching, mindfulness and hot/cold therapy to augment their pain management.

Geisinger says additional data supports better interactions between doctors, clinic staff and patients compared to when patients rely on memory to describe their pain between clinic visits.