Summary
Garmin is a consumer wearable device with activity, ECG, heart rate, and pulse oximetry as the key parameters captured, which allow the monitoring of health metrics such as fitness, sleep, heart rhythm, and energy/calorie expenditure. The assessment uses accelerometry along with PPG changes in heart rate and rhythm for sleep score, tracking, and stages (light, deep, REM, wake). In addition to sleep tracking, it offers a sleep coach, nap detection, and jet lag advisor. Some Garmin devices also track ECG, respiratory rate, SpO2, stress levels, HRV, calories, several fitness metrics, GPS, and/or skin temperature. Garmin has several wrist-based wearable products with varying features, including the Venu®, Fēnix®, Forerunner (has GPS), the Instinct®, and others. The Venu® has an FDA-cleared application that allows users to record their 1 channel ECG and to check for signs of atrial fibrillation along with activity tracking to estimate sleep. Heart rhythm results may be viewed with the watch’s ECG app or the Garmin Connect™ smartphone app. Its accelerometry performance is reportedly comparable to other wearable devices, and it has utility for sleep/wake assessments.
Claimed Capabilities/Measurements
Garmin offers several watches and wristbands meant to monitor and promote health and wellness using accelerometry and PPG that provide users with activity and sleep-related information. Some of the smartwatches have an FDA-cleared ECG app that allows users to record ECG and to check for signs of atrial fibrillation (AFib) or normal sinus rhythm.
Mechanism
Motion, ECG, HR, HRV, SpO2
Sensors
Accelerometer; optical PPG sensor
Technical Considerations
Each battery life depends on the watch/ wristband, generally 1 week to 1 month.
Publications
Citation: Evenson KR, Spade CL. Review of Validity and Reliability of Garmin Activity Trackers. J Meas Phys Behav. 2020 Jun;3(2):170-185. doi: 10.1123/jmpb.2019-0035. PMID: 32601613; PMCID: PMC7323940.
DOI:
URL:
Industry Support: No
Validation Study: Yes
Comparison Test(s): N/A
Study Summary: The authors did a systematic review looking at the validity and reliability in adults of Garmin watches for steps, distance, energy expenditure, speed, elevation, heart rate, and sleep. 32 studies documented validity and 4 also documented reliability. There were numerous study limitations including the use of different watch models. For sleep, no studies assessed reliability, and the only two studies that assessed validity for Garmin activity trackers used sleep diaries for comparison, not PSG. The authors found “higher validity of steps; few studies on speed, elevation, and sleep; lower validity for distance, energy expenditure, and heart rate;” and the need for more intra- and inter-device feature reliability testing.
Citation: Validity of Two Consumer Multisport Activity Tracker and One Accelerometer against Polysomnography for Measuring Sleep Parameters and Vital Data in a Laboratory Setting in Sleep Patients
DOI:
URL:
Industry Support: No
Validation Study: Yes
Comparison Test(s): Polar Ignite, Actigraph GT9X, and PSG
Study Summary: Two commercial sort activity trackers (Garmin Forerunner 945 and Polar Ignite) and an accelerometer (Actigraph GT9X) were compared with PSG followed by MSLT for 49 (30 males/19 females) suspected of sleep disorders. The activity trackers were highly accurate for HR, HRV, SpO2, and RR but both overestimated TST and underestimated WASO and SL. Both deviated with sleep stages, overestimated light sleep, and underestimated deep sleep. The authors concluded that they were adequate for detecting sleep/wake patterns and vital signs but not for medical purposes or if accurate sleep staging is required.
Citation: Schyvens AM, Van Oost NC, Aerts JM, Masci F, Peters B, Neven A, Dirix H, Wets G, Ross V, Verbraecken J. Accuracy of Fitbit Charge 4, Garmin Vivosmart 4, and WHOOP Versus Polysomnography: Systematic Review. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024 Mar 27;12:e52192. doi: 10.2196/52192. PMID: 38557808; PMCID: PMC11004611.
DOI:
URL:
Industry Support: No
Validation Study: Yes
Comparison Test(s): PSG
Study Summary: The authors did a systematic review to evaluate the performance of 3 recent wearable devices (Fitbit Charge 4, Garmin Vivosmart 4, and WHOOP) for determining sleep parameters and sleep stages. Using 8 papers, they found that “WHOOP showed the least disagreement relative to PSG and Sleep Profiler for total sleep time (−1.4 min), light sleep (−9.6 min), and deep sleep (−9.3 min) but showed the largest disagreement for rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (21.0 min). Fitbit Charge 4 and Garmin Vivosmart 4 both showed moderate accuracy in assessing sleep stages and total sleep time compared to PSG. Fitbit Charge 4 showed the least disagreement for REM sleep (4.0 min) relative to PSG. Fitbit Charge 4 showed higher sensitivities to deep sleep (75%) and REM sleep (86.5%) compared to Garmin Vivosmart 4 and WHOOP.” The authors concluded that, in addition to more needed research, the devices derive acceptable sleep estimates but all devices could benefit from improving specific sleep stages.
Clinical Trials
Related Technologies
ActLumus, ActTrust, ActiGraph LEAP, (Actigraph) Centrepoint Insight watch, Biosticker/Biobutton, CamNtech motion watches, Philips Actiwatch, Readiband and Readiwatch, Fibion, FitBit watches, Fitbit trackers, Garmin watches, Somnowatch Plus +Eco, Micro Motionlogger-SleepWatch 2.0, Empatica- EmbracePlus watch, PamSys, Vyvo Biosense ring, Motionlogger Actigraph
The post Garmin watches appeared first on American Academy of Sleep Medicine – Association for Sleep Clinicians and Researchers.
