Dubai to study use of smartwatch in detecting diabetes risk

Dubai: A new study on using smartwatch technology to detect diabetes risk was announced at the World Health Expo (WHX) 2026 in Dubai on Tuesday, aiming to tackle the growing diabetes crisis where millions worldwide remain undiagnosed.

Dr Maryam Al Saeed, assistant professor and endocrinology diabetes specialist at Mohammed Bin Rashid University (MBRU) under Dubai Health, revealed that the research will test the Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro on 150 patients and volunteers across Dubai Health facilities to assess its accuracy in identifying elevated blood glucose levels.

This followed the Huawei’s announcement of the new feature of diabetes risk on the Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro at the Huawei Health Strategy and Research Platform event at WHX.

“More than 500 million individuals are living with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or type 1 worldwide. What's really interesting to me is the undiagnosed – these are people who don't know they have diabetes because they never checked,” Dr Al Saeed.

She highlighted that two-thirds of people with pre-diabetes eventually develop the full condition, making early detection critical.

Quoting the 2019 Dubai Household Survey, she said 19 per cent of adult Emiratis had diabetes, while about 12 per cent of expats living in Dubai were affected by the condition.

Though there have been updated figures nationally, Dr Al Saeed told Gulf News she chose the Dubai survey for the local data. “In the case of pre-diabetes, the data showed the opposite. Expats had higher rates of prediabetes at 18.3 per cent compared to Emiratis at 10.7 per cent,” she said, highlighting that the age demographic was a significant factor.

“The scary thing is not just how many people are living with diabetes here in our city, the problem is how many have pre-diabetes who are eventually going to develop diabetes. How are they going to reach any doctor, their family medicine physician? How are they going to get treatment?”

She noted that approximately 250 million people worldwide are unaware they have diabetes, with the average time to diagnosis being two years.

The trial will involve 50 healthy volunteers, 50 known diabetes patients, and 50 patients with pre-diabetes from Dubai Health hospitals and primary healthcare centres across the city.

Dr Al Saeed expressed particular interest in the pre-diabetes group – people at risk who may sometimes have high blood sugar levels and other times not, and who may or may not be aware of their condition.

The study will compare the smartwatch's readings against traditional capillary glucose monitors that use finger pricks to test accuracy.

Technology behind the watch

The Huawei Watch GTX uses photoplethysmography (PPG), an optical method that estimates blood glucose through light sensors. As an external, non-invasive device worn on the wrist, it differs from minimally invasive continuous glucose monitors that require insertion under the skin.

“The watch isn't going to tell them you're diabetic, but it's probably going to tell them the glucose is high. What are you going to do with that information? It's probably going to signal to you that maybe you need to go and visit your doctor and have a lab test,” Dr Al Saeed said.

Dr Al Saeed emphasised the critical importance of early diabetes detection, noting that heart attacks, the number one cause of death worldwide, are significantly contributed to by diabetes.

In the UAE, more than 50 per cent of deaths are caused by heart attacks, with the average age being 47 years, she said, quoting World Health Organisation data from the UAE. This means half of those who died were younger than 47.

"Seven out of the top 10 causes of death in the UAE are related to what we call cardiometabolic disease. The foundation, the root cause of cardiometabolic disease is insulin resistance and diabetes, and it includes pre-diabetes,” she highlighted.

Dr Al Saeed dismissed the notion that health-monitoring wearables are merely a passing trend.

She believes consumer-grade health products offer greater market penetration and could provide significant public health benefits, helping patients receive care before reaching end-stage complications with organ damage.

Earlier at the same event, Jiguang Wang, professor of cardiovascular medicine and director of the Shanghai Institute of Hypertension at Ruijin Hospital in China, highlighted how wearable blood pressure measurement using Huawei's Watch D2 has aided in early detection of cardiac issues and improving overall health management. He also encouraged the shift to wearable devices for managing hypertension.