Smartwatches and Apps Are Catching Mental Health Crises in Cancer Patients—Here's How

Digital health tools like smartwatches and mobile apps are proving they can catch mental health crises before they escalate, particularly in high-risk cancer patients. A groundbreaking study from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children found that wearable devices and health apps successfully identified psychological distress in real-time, with suicide alert systems triggering immediate clinical intervention in 11% of participants.

How Effective Are Digital Health Tools for Mental Health Monitoring?

Researchers followed 45 participants—9 children and 36 adults—all affected by Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a genetic condition that dramatically increases cancer risk from early childhood. LFS patients face a 40% cancer risk by age 20 and over 90% by age 70, requiring lifelong surveillance that creates significant psychological stress.

The study equipped participants with Empatica EmbracePlus smartwatches and mobile apps that collected both physiological data and self-reported mental health surveys. Adults showed stronger engagement, wearing their devices 81% of the time compared to 56% for children, and staying in the study longer—153 days versus 77 days for children.

What Mental Health Patterns Did the Technology Reveal?

The digital tools uncovered striking differences in psychological burden between age groups. Children showed significantly higher distress levels across multiple measures:

• Depression Scores: Children averaged 10.0 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) compared to 4.2 for adults
• Sleep Problems: Children scored 22.7 on sleep-related impairment measures versus 16.5 for adults
• Stress Frequency: Children reported stress 36.3% of the time compared to 14.3% for adults

Perhaps most importantly, the suicide alert system identified five participants (11%) who needed immediate clinical intervention, demonstrating how digital health tools can serve as an early warning system for mental health crises.

Can Wearables Predict Stress Around Medical Procedures?

The research revealed that smartwatches could detect individualized physiological patterns of stress specifically related to cancer surveillance appointments. Using advanced statistical modeling, researchers found consistent stress responses that varied by person but remained predictable around medical procedures like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

This finding addresses what researchers call "scanxiety"—the emotional distress that builds around cancer surveillance appointments. The ability to objectively measure and predict these stress patterns could help healthcare providers better support patients through difficult medical procedures.

"Digital Health Tools are feasible and can capture clinically meaningful psychological and physiological data in high-risk pediatric and family populations," the researchers concluded, noting that the tools "enable timely detection of distress and facilitate targeted interventions."

While participants appreciated the stress awareness benefits, they also highlighted challenges with device comfort, functionality, and personalization. The study, conducted from January to December 2022, provides crucial insights for integrating digital health tools into routine clinical care, particularly for chronic disease populations requiring ongoing medical surveillance.