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Withings 2024 Year in Review: Research Highlights

3 min read

Withings products not only help individuals and their clinicians better monitor and understand health, but they are contributing to a wide body of research. Withings is honored that researchers are increasingly turning to our products across an impressive number of therapeutic areas. Among them are diabetic neuropathy, retinopathy, sudomotor function, hypertension, sleep quality, sleep apnea, dementia, ECG intervals in children, arrhythmias, cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN), public health monitoring, and health technology adoption.

Here’s just a sampling of the diversity and reach of Withings products in medical research this year.

An October 2024 article in Frontiers in Neuroanatomy looks at the history and technical development of electrochemical skin conductance (ESC), as measured by Withings’ Sudoscan, and compares it to other measures of skin conductance such as galvanic skin response (GSR) and electrodermal activity (EDA). ESC was developed specifically to diagnose sudomotor function as opposed to GSR/EDA which is a continuous monitoring tool. EDA is increasingly incorporated into wearable technology. While both use skin/sweat conductance, it is important to differentiate EDA which can be used for physiological and psychological measures of stress from ESC which is used to evaluate sudomotor function and diagnose neuropathy. Withings has incorporated ESC in its smart scales which show a near perfect correlation with the Sudoscan clinical device. The Withings smart scales allow for easier and more frequent individual time series data as well as large scale data collection. 

Public health surveillance has largely relied on self-reported surveys. This study applied mobile and wearable technologies to collect objective, real-time, continuous health data. Data from a variety of Withings products (Withings Sleep, Withings BPM Connect, Withings Thermo, and Withings Body+), were used to predict stress. Findings showed that a system, such as the Mobile Health Platform used here, could complement self-reported health data to better monitor and predict stress in a population.

This study compared the 1-lead ECG intervals available via the Withings ScanWatch with the standard 12-lead ECGs in children and adolescents. Smart watch intervals have previously been shown to be accurate for adults. The heart rate measure was found to be reliable for children, The automated QTc interval was less reliable but can be improved with manual measurements. It is worth noting that the study used pediatric subjects rather than adapting adult research, as is often the case.

This study of 67,254 adults showed that 30% of adults do not get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night, and that even those who did average 7-9 hours, 40% of the nights fell outside the range. Only 15% of participants slept 7-9 hours for at least 5 nights per week. In addition to the findings of irregular sleep, the study highlights the usefulness of the at home Withings Sleep for large-scale and/or longitudinal sleep studies. 

As we close out a year of significant knowledge advancements, we look forward to seeing what the global healthcare research community has in store for 2025. 

If you are conducting research that might benefit from Withings technology, please contact us at contact-pro@withings.com.

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What is Electrochemical Skin Conductance?

Electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) 
is a non-invasive measurement of the sudomotor function. It measures sweat gland nerve supply and assesses disorders of the autonomic nervous system, which is part of the peripheral nervous system.

Why is ESC important?

A significant number of diabetes patients will be affected by diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in their lifetime, and the percentage of diabetes patients who might develop a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is also considerable. In addition, studies have shown that the 5-year mortality rate of DFU is comparable to cancer mortality. Given these urgent concerns, electrochemical skin conductance is a crucial tool for health care providers.

But this key measurement doesn’t just provide an essential health care solution. Consider the increased average medical costs 
for patients with diabetes, the billions of dollars in costs for patients with DFU in addition to the costs of the diabetes itself, and the tens of thousands of dollars in per-patient Medicare reimbursement and reimbursement per patient with diabetes-related foot amputation. It’s clear that electrochemical skin conductance can reduce the costs of diabetes patient care, as well as many of the risks to patient health. 

Unfortunately, the current diabetes patient journey presents significant roadblocks, including the low percentage of diabetes patients who actually have an annual foot exam, the number of patients who are misdiagnosed due to unreliable tools, and the lack of patient monitoring. These issues highlight the need for connected health products that can measure ESC and other key biomarkers. These devices and systems can empower patients to take charge of their home health monitoring and motivate them to make beneficial lifestyle changes. They can provide care teams the consistent, accurate data they need to make the right treatment decisions, elevating overall care and improving health outcomes. And of course, they can lower care costs. The health risks to diabetes patients are real and significant — but real and significant solutions exist that can create positive impacts all around.

Click the button below to download the infographic. 

Download Now [post_title] => What is Electrochemical Skin Conductance? [post_excerpt] => Electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) 
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Smart Scales have traditionally been used by consumers to track their personal wellness metrics. However, Withings saw an opportunity to use highly sophisticated technologies in an at-home setting that provide critical data for providers to make more timely and informed care decisions. Body Pro 2 is that type of technology - a scale that adds both nuance and robustness to at-home health management and has the potential to improve the early detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathies (DPN). 

 

Remote patient monitoring provides immediate, daily measurements to track and manage patient care for at-risk patients. As the creator of the original home smart scale, Withings has 15 years of experience in this field and hundreds of peer-reviewed studies of its products and measurements. In 2022 Withings acquired Sudoscan®, the FDA-cleared medical device for assessing DPN. We have now incorporated the Sudoscan® technology -  which is already used by thousands of clinicians around the world - in our Body Pro 2 device.

 

Rather than hoping patients come for a regular foot exam, doctors and other health professionals can now monitor signs of diabetic peripheral neuropathy with daily readings to detect the earliest changes in small fiber neuropathy, at a stage when interventions can have the most profound effect. With 70% of patients with diabetes suffering from DPN at some point, regular assessment is critical. Unfortunately, annual comprehensive foot exams, as recommended by the ADA, have patient compliance issues and the conventional assessment techniques used by primary care practitioners (PCPs) often miss asymptomatic patients.

 

Body Pro 2 assesses small fiber nerves by emitting low voltage pulses to stimulate the sweat glands in the foot and measures reactivity to the impulse, providing a quantitative Electrochemical Skin Conductance (ESC) score. An equivalence study compared the ESC measurements of Withings’ at-home device with those of the Sudoscan device which has been used in specialty clinics and hospital settings for more than 10 years (1). The multi-center, cross-sectional study was carried out in four French university hospitals with 147 patients. Results demonstrated an almost perfect agreement in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability.

Within 60 seconds of stepping on the scale, patients and care teams receive feedback indicating whether small fiber neuropathy may be present. Care teams can then determine, based on the potential extent of the neuropathy, whether ongoing monitoring or immediate referral to a specialist is needed. The data are displayed on the screen and seamlessly transmitted to the care team by cellular, wireless, or bluetooth technology. This connectivity allows the physician to communicate with the patient and provide instructions for care.

 

Beyond the usual weight and BMI biomarkers, the Body Pro 2 is the first at-home cellular scale to measure body composition using multifrequency Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). The body composition readings include fat mass, visceral fat, muscle mass, bone mass, and water percentage. A built-in algorithm, ProgramMemberID, assures that the data are coming from the patient - not a family member - and an engagement score helps a provider adjust advice to the patient accordingly.

 

Eric Carreel, Founder and President of Withings, commented, "Body Pro 2 allows for early detection of a largely underdiagnosed condition and therefore a better management of the diabetic foot. I also believe that providing access to longitudinal ESC data has the potential to help the industry rethink how we should care for patients with diabetes."

*

  1. Riveline JP, Mallone R, Tiercelin C, Yaker F, Alexandre-Heymann L, Khelifaoui L, Travert F, Fertichon C, Julla JB, Vidal-Trecan T, Potier L, Gautier JF, Larger E, Lefaucheur JP. Validation of the Body Scan®, a new Device to detect small fiber neuropathy by assessment of the sudomotor function: agreement with the Sudoscan®. Front Neurol. 2023 Oct 31;14:1256984. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2023.1256984. PMID: 38020587; PMCID: PMC10644320
  2. Amit Goel et al., « Comparison of Electrochemical Skin Conductance and Vibration Perception Threshold Measurement in the Detection of Early Diabetic Neuropathy », PLOS ONE 12, no 9 (7 septembre 2017): e0183973, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183973

  3. Angelica Carbajal-Ramírez et al., « Early Identification of Peripheral Neuropathy Based on Sudomotor Dysfunction in Mexican Patients with Type 2 Diabetes », BMC Neurology 19, no 1 (31 mai 2019): 109, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-019-1332-4

  4. Selvarajah D, Cash T, Davies J, Sankar A, Rao G, Grieg M, Pallai S, Gandhi R, Wilkinson ID, Tesfaye S. SUDOSCAN: A Simple, Rapid, and Objective Method with Potential for Screening for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 12;10(10):e0138224

Interested in partnering with us?

Contact Us [post_title] => Withings Introduces Body Pro 2, an Rx Device for Early Detection of DPN* [post_excerpt] => Smart Scales have traditionally been used by consumers to track their personal wellness metrics. However, Withings saw an opportunity to use highly sophisticated technologies in an at-home setting that provide critical data for providers to make more timely and informed care decisions. Body Pro 2 is that type of technology - a scale that adds both nuance and robustness to at-home health management and has the potential to improve the early detection of diabetic peripheral neuropathies (DPN). [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => withings-introduces-body-pro-2-an-rx-device-for-early-detection-of-dpn [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-25 07:55:15 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-25 07:55:15 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://withingshealthsolutions.com/?p=1190 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) ) [post_count] => 2 [current_post] => -1 [before_loop] => 1 [in_the_loop] => [post] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 1275 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2024-05-20 14:03:17 [post_date_gmt] => 2024-05-20 14:03:17 [post_content] =>

What is Electrochemical Skin Conductance?

Electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) 
is a non-invasive measurement of the sudomotor function. It measures sweat gland nerve supply and assesses disorders of the autonomic nervous system, which is part of the peripheral nervous system.

Why is ESC important?

A significant number of diabetes patients will be affected by diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in their lifetime, and the percentage of diabetes patients who might develop a diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is also considerable. In addition, studies have shown that the 5-year mortality rate of DFU is comparable to cancer mortality. Given these urgent concerns, electrochemical skin conductance is a crucial tool for health care providers.

But this key measurement doesn’t just provide an essential health care solution. Consider the increased average medical costs 
for patients with diabetes, the billions of dollars in costs for patients with DFU in addition to the costs of the diabetes itself, and the tens of thousands of dollars in per-patient Medicare reimbursement and reimbursement per patient with diabetes-related foot amputation. It’s clear that electrochemical skin conductance can reduce the costs of diabetes patient care, as well as many of the risks to patient health. 

Unfortunately, the current diabetes patient journey presents significant roadblocks, including the low percentage of diabetes patients who actually have an annual foot exam, the number of patients who are misdiagnosed due to unreliable tools, and the lack of patient monitoring. These issues highlight the need for connected health products that can measure ESC and other key biomarkers. These devices and systems can empower patients to take charge of their home health monitoring and motivate them to make beneficial lifestyle changes. They can provide care teams the consistent, accurate data they need to make the right treatment decisions, elevating overall care and improving health outcomes. And of course, they can lower care costs. The health risks to diabetes patients are real and significant — but real and significant solutions exist that can create positive impacts all around.

Click the button below to download the infographic. 

Download Now [post_title] => What is Electrochemical Skin Conductance? [post_excerpt] => Electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) 
is a non-invasive measurement of the sudomotor function. It measures sweat gland nerve supply and assesses disorders of the autonomic nervous system, which is part of the peripheral nervous system. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => what-is-electrochemical-skin-conductance [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-12-12 21:11:11 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-12-12 21:11:11 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://withingshealthsolutions.com/?p=1275 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [comment_count] => 0 [current_comment] => -1 [found_posts] => 2 [max_num_pages] => 1 [max_num_comment_pages] => 0 [is_single] => [is_preview] => [is_page] => [is_archive] => [is_date] => [is_year] => [is_month] => [is_day] => [is_time] => [is_author] => [is_category] => [is_tag] => [is_tax] => [is_search] => [is_feed] => [is_comment_feed] => [is_trackback] => [is_home] => 1 [is_privacy_policy] => [is_404] => [is_embed] => [is_paged] => [is_admin] => [is_attachment] => [is_singular] => [is_robots] => [is_favicon] => [is_posts_page] => [is_post_type_archive] => [query_vars_hash:WP_Query:private] => 23506e5230deae53b72b3bc0153da64d [query_vars_changed:WP_Query:private] => [thumbnails_cached] => [allow_query_attachment_by_filename:protected] => [stopwords:WP_Query:private] => [compat_fields:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => query_vars_hash [1] => query_vars_changed ) [compat_methods:WP_Query:private] => Array ( [0] => init_query_flags [1] => parse_tax_query ) )
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What is Electrochemical Skin Conductance?

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Withings Introduces Body Pro 2, an Rx Device for Early Detection of DPN*

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