Prevention of chronic disease has become a key health policy initiative in recent years. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a road map and menu of policy options that aim to reduce premature deaths due to chronic noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. An important part of prevention is monitoring an individual’s health condition and intervening early enough to make a difference in the course of a disease.

Traditional approaches include routine health checkups, cancer screening, and disease-management programs. More recently, wearable and portable devices are gaining popularity, allowing people to monitor their own health in real time. Advocates suggest that such real-time health signals will lead to appropriate preventive care and improve health outcomes at a lower cost compared to conventional approaches, although others recognize that this is no panacea.

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