Yale Study Finds 41.1% of US Adults Own Wearables as Fewer Than 1 in 5 Share Data
Updated
Updated · WJLA · Jul 27
Yale Study Finds 41.1% of US Adults Own Wearables as Fewer Than 1 in 5 Share Data
1 articles · Updated · WJLA · Jul 27
Summary
41.1% of U.S. adults owned a wearable device in 2024, up 36.1% from 2020, according to a Yale School of Medicine study using national health survey data.
Fewer than one in five users had shared wearable data with a doctor, even though most said they were willing, leaving much of the technology's healthcare value unrealized.
Doctors can use some validated features—such as FDA-cleared ECG functions and continuous glucose monitors—but proprietary sleep and recovery scores are not yet reliable diagnostic tools.
Clinicians say the bigger hurdle is turning a flood of device readings into usable medical insight, a gap they expect AI to help close as wearables evolve from fitness trackers into physiologic monitors.