Consumers cheer wearables, but don't wear them, yet

Consumers are highly optimistic about wearable devices' potential to improve healthcare, even though most now are not using wearables to track their own health, PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute says in a new report.

Approximately 56% of respondents to a PwC 2014 survey (PDF) of 1,000 people said that average life expectancy will be boosted by 10 years because of wearables' ability to monitor vital signs. This response comes despite such devices not yet being widely adopted; only 21% of survey respondents own a wearable product, PwC's survey found. Of that group, only about half wear it every day.

Wearables include such devices as fitness bands that monitor activity and sleep patterns as well as flexible patches that can detect body temperature, heart rate, hydration level, the report outlines.

Manufacturers need to create products that can engage groups that haven't used wearables before, and sustain interest among those who have purchased them, according to the PwC report “Health wearables: Early days.”

One bad bit of news for wearable makers: “Most consumers do not want to pay much for their wearable devices,” the report states. “They would rather be paid to use them, and companies—especially insurers—offering incentives for use may gain traction.” Roughly 68% of consumers would wear employer-provided wearables in exchange for breaks on insurance premiums, the survey found.

Insurers and providers need more evidence to demonstrate that data from wearables can be used to achieve better results for patients, the report states.

Not everyone is jumping on the wearables bandwagon just yet. Ian Clark, CEO of Genentech, is quoted in the report calling wearables “a bit trivial right now. I … don't know whether it's going to bend the curve in terms of health outcomes.”

Follow Darius Tahir on Twitter: @dariustahir