If there’s one overriding reason people are using wearable devices such as Fitbits and Apple Watches, it’s to track their vital signs during exercise in the hope that they can improve their health.

Now there’s evidence that some wearables, at least, have the potential to prevent illness and disease. That’s according to a new Stanford University study, called “Digital Health: Tracking Physiomes and Activity Using Wearable Biosensors Reveals Useful Health-Related Information,” that was published Thursday in the journal PLOS Biology.

After monitoring several wearables – Scanadu Scout, iHealth-finger, Masimo, and Intel Corp.-owned Basis – over the period of one year, the researchers came to the conclusion that the data provided to them was indeed useful.

“By recording over 250,000 daily measurements for up to 43 individuals, we found personalized circadian differences in physiological parameters, replicating previous physiological findings,” said the study.

Simply put, the wearables show a person’s body responding to certain environments. One of these big changes, for example, happens during airline flights, which can make us feel awful. Now the wearables’ data can be used to explain why, if currently in somewhat dense medical jargon: “decreased peripheral capillary oxygen saturation [SpO2] and increased radiation exposure.”

Even more interesting, the report said that that the devices helped identify the onset of Lyme disease and inflammation. “From this observation, we then developed a computational algorithm for personalized disease detection using such sensors,” the report said. In other words, the gadgets can be something of a disease alarm system.

Moreover, wearables could reveal physiological differences in people who are insulin-sensitive and insulin-resistant, with the possibility of detecting the risk for type 2 diabetes. The conclusion was that wearables and the information provided by them “is physiologically meaningful and actionable. Wearable sensors are likely to play an important role in managing health.”

Of course, the benefits depend on the devices working as advertised. Basis Peak watches were recalled last year after reports that they were burning people’s skin.

And there are obstacles to the use of wearables’ data. The report says there’s a high possibility of “false alarms and over-diagnosis of disease.” User privacy is also an issue that will need to be taken seriously.

Photo credit: Claus Rebler via Flickr