Part of: Oura Ring: on therapeutics and digital biomarkers
In early November, I did a quick search for ‘Oura’ on clinicaltrials.gov and found 80 trials published (including Oura’s own).
I downloaded the CSV and threw it at Claude.ai for analysis. Below is the unfiltered analysis. I did not follow-up on fact-checking what Claude summarized. I was more looking for what could be pulled out to give me an idea of the range of uses in clinical trials (and then feed those ideas into my thoughts for the main article).
Nonetheless, this is all ripe for further investigation, and perhaps for more involvement by Oura (If they are not already involved).
Here’s the main part of the transcript.
Claude:
Let me analyze the clinical trials data involving the Oura Ring. Here are some key observations:
- Research Focus Areas:
- Sleep Studies: A significant number of trials use Oura for sleep monitoring and quality assessment
- Mental Health: Multiple studies on stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout
- Chronic Conditions: Studies on Parkinson’s, Crohn’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, chronic pain
- Women’s Health: Several studies focused on pregnancy, gestational diabetes, menstrual cycles
- Lifestyle & Prevention: Studies on weight management, physical activity, and overall wellbeing
- Types of Implementation:
- Validation Studies: Testing Oura as a measurement tool compared to clinical standards
- Remote Monitoring: Using Oura for continuous patient monitoring outside clinical settings
- Interventional Studies: Using Oura to track outcomes of various treatments/interventions
- Behavioral Research: Using Oura to understand lifestyle patterns and behavior change
- Key Metrics Being Tracked:
- Sleep metrics (quality, stages, duration)
- Heart Rate Variability (HRV)
- Temperature
- Activity levels
- Recovery metrics
- Notable Institutional Interest:
- Major medical centers and universities are conducting these trials
- Both academic and industry-sponsored research
- Global distribution (US, Europe, Asia)
- Evolution of Use Cases:
- Started with basic sleep tracking
- Moving towards more complex medical applications
- Integration into clinical decision-making
- Use in drug development and therapeutic monitoring
This data suggests growing acceptance of Oura as a research-grade device, particularly for sleep and physiological monitoring. The diversity of studies indicates its potential utility across multiple medical domains, especially in remote patient monitoring and digital biomarker development.
Would you like me to explore any of these aspects in more detail?
Me:
You mention use in drug development and therapeutic monitoring.
Can you say more about these trials?
Claude:
Yes, looking at trials specifically focused on drug development and therapeutic monitoring, here are the key examples:
- Therapeutic Monitoring in Cancer Treatment:
- “ETERNALS: Remote Monitoring in Lung Cancer Patients” (NCT06479005)
- Using Oura to monitor patients receiving cytotoxic chemotherapy
- Primary focus: Early detection of clinical deterioration
- Monitoring sleep, physical activity, and vital signs to potentially predict complications
- Neurological & Psychiatric Medications:
- “PsilOCD: A Pharmacological-Challenge Feasibility Study” (NCT06258031)
- Studying psilocybin’s impact on OCD patients
- Using Oura to track sleep architecture changes and autonomic response
- Monitoring heart rate variability as a biomarker
- “DIG-MG: Digital Phenotyping in Myasthenia Gravis” (NCT05992025)
- Monitoring treatment response in Myasthenia Gravis
- Using digital biomarkers to track disease progression and treatment effectiveness
- Pain Management & Rehabilitation:
- “Pain Monitoring of Herniated Disc Surgery Patients With Oura Ring” (NCT05129007)
- Objective pain measurement through physiological markers
- Tracking recovery patterns post-surgery
- Using sleep and HRV as indicators of pain levels
- Metabolic & Weight Management Drugs:
- Studies involving GLP-1 drugs (like Ozempic) monitoring:
- Sleep patterns
- Side effect profiles (nausea components)
- Treatment adaptation
- Emerging Pattern in Clinical Trials:
- Moving towards “digital endpoints”
- Using continuous monitoring instead of periodic assessments
- Integration of multiple digital biomarkers
- Focus on early detection of adverse events
- Patient-reported outcomes combined with objective measurements
This trend suggests Oura is being evaluated as a tool for:
- Treatment response monitoring
- Early warning systems for adverse effects
- Objective measurement of subjective symptoms
- Remote patient monitoring during drug trials
- Development of digital biomarkers for various conditions
Would you like me to elaborate on any specific aspect or trial?
Me:
Ok, so these trials are kind of validating our thoughts on this.
I particularly like the lung cancer, myasthenia gravis, and herniated disc studies.
Not that the data can reveal this, but would be interesting to know how the researchers came about to including the ring in these studies. Is Oura actively promoting and supporting, or are these rings purchased retail due to interest of researchers.
Inquiring minds want to know.
This is a great question and would be fascinating to understand the “origin story” behind these trials’ use of Oura.
Claude:
Some patterns I notice:
- Many studies seem to be independently initiated by research institutions, suggesting organic researcher interest rather than company-sponsored trials. For example, the lung cancer study (ETERNALS) is being conducted at Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg in Belgium without obvious Oura involvement.
- However, I see at least one study where Oura is listed as a collaborator:
- “START: Sensor Technology Assessments of Reproductive Target Study” (NCT06142097)
- Listed as “Ouraring Inc.” as sponsor
- Working with UCSF Center for Reproductive Health
- Suggests Oura does have some direct research partnerships
- The pattern of studies suggests a “network effect” where:
- Early studies validate the device’s accuracy
- Published results encourage other researchers
- Word spreads within medical specialties
- Researchers build on others’ protocols
Me:
As for what you see as a network effect – can you list the study names you see feed from one to next?
Claude:
Let me analyze the progression and potential network effects in these trials. I’ll try to trace thematic and chronological connections:
Sleep & Validation Studies (Early Foundation):
- “Calm + Oura Sleep Study” (2020) – Basic sleep validation
- “Study of Efficacy of Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With Wearable Device for Insomnia” (2023)
- “SLEEP-AC” (2024) – More sophisticated sleep study in adolescent psychiatric patients
Mental Health & Stress Progression:
- “Physician Mental Health Study for Medical Trainees” (2016) – Early stress monitoring
- “Stress and Recovery in Frontline COVID-19 Workers” (2020)
- “Digital Interventions to Understand and Mitigate Stress Response” (2023)
- “My Experiences: Leveraging Digital Technologies to Better Understand Mental Health” (2023)
Chronic Disease Monitoring Evolution:
- “Stress in Crohn’s Disease” (2019-2022) – Early disease monitoring
- “ETERNALS: Remote Monitoring in Lung Cancer Patients” (2024)
- “Digital Phenotyping and Lifestyle Intervention in Patients With Myasthenia Gravis” (2024)
However, I should note that I’m making some assumptions about influence between studies that would need verification. What would be really valuable would be to:
- Look at the citations between these studies
- Check if research teams overlap
- See if protocols reference previous studies
- Look at published results and how they informed subsequent trials
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