Fitness Trackers and Machine Learning Show Promise in Detecting Bipolar Disorder Mood Swings

Bipolar disorder, a mental health condition characterized by extreme mood swings between depression and mania, presents unique challenges in monitoring and timely intervention. Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have made a breakthrough by using data from fitness trackers combined with machine learning to detect mood episodes in individuals with bipolar disorder. Their findings, published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, suggest that this approach could help clinicians identify mood changes more efficiently and guide treatment adjustments.

High Accuracy in Identifying Mood Episodes

The study utilized data from commercially available fitness trackers to passively collect metrics such as physical activity, with the goal of detecting depressive and manic episodes in participants diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The research team’s machine learning algorithm achieved an accuracy of 80.1% in identifying depressive symptoms and 89.1% for manic symptoms. This study is distinct because it prioritized practical clinical application, using noninvasive, passively collected data and avoiding the need for specialized or invasive devices.

Dr. Jessica Lipschitz, Ph.D., an investigator in the Brigham’s Department of Psychiatry and corresponding author of the study, explained the team’s motivation: “Our goal was to use that data to identify when study participants diagnosed with bipolar disorder were experiencing mood episodes,” she said. “In the future, our hope is that machine learning algorithms like ours could help patients' treatment teams respond fast to new or unremitting episodes in order to limit negative impact.”

Broad Applicability and Implications for Care

Traditional methods for monitoring bipolar disorder often rely on self-reported symptoms and scheduled clinical visits, which can leave significant gaps in care. This new method has the potential to bridge these gaps by providing a continuous, noninvasive approach to tracking mood episodes. Unlike earlier studies, which often relied on specialized equipment or highly compliant participants, the researchers designed their method to be broadly applicable across diverse patient populations, making it more accessible for real-world use.

The study’s findings also hold promise for scalability and integration into routine clinical workflows. By implementing these predictive algorithms, clinicians could potentially receive alerts about a patient’s depressive or manic episodes between scheduled appointments, improving opportunities for early intervention. Furthermore, the researchers are exploring ways to adapt this work to other mental health conditions, such as major depressive disorder, thereby expanding its utility.

This research represents a step forward in leveraging everyday technologies like fitness trackers to enhance psychiatric care. By facilitating earlier detection and intervention, this approach could improve outcomes for individuals living with bipolar disorder, helping to reduce the impact of untreated mood episodes.