The Quantified Few

Wearables and longitudinal data are becoming a new surface for care. The question is whether that surface reaches the patients who need it — or just the worried well who can afford it.

A decade ago a patient walked into clinic carrying a memory and a paper log. Today a growing minority arrive with a continuous record: heart rate, sleep, glucose, gait, oxygen. The signal that used to vanish when they left the room now persists. This is new. For the first time the context that shapes a chronic disease is legible between visits, not only…