Fitbit Begins Smartwatch Blood Pressure Tracking Study

Fitbit is gearing up for its latest research initiative, this time focusing on how its smartwatches can measure blood pressure without the traditional arm-cuff method, according to a company blog post.

Beginning this month, U.S. Fitbit Sense users who are at least 20 years old can participate in the study. It will look into how pulse arrival time (PAT) can be used to measure blood pressure.

PAT is the time it takes for a pulse of blood to reach the wrist after a heartbeat. In previous internal Fitbit Labs studies, PAT was found to correlate with blood pressure, but the new study will extend those findings to a broader population, the company said.

Eligible Fitbit users can expect to get a notification within the app to join the month-long study. The company said it is looking to recruit a diverse range of participants to get applicable real-world data.