Multimodal Wearable and Survey Data Reveal Distinct Physiologic Profiles in Hypermobile-Ehlers Danlos Syndrome for Screening Advancements

Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS) is a genetic connective tissue disorder characterized by hypermobile joints, chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, orthostatic intolerance, and GI symptoms and dysmotility. Its heterogeneous presentation contributes to poor quality of life, inappropriate interventions, and prolonged diagnostic delays, often up to 10 years. This study primarily aimed to determine if physiological signals captured by a medical-grade wrist wearable could characterize autonomic patterns in hEDS and relate them to symptoms. Individuals with hEDS (n=30) and healthy controls (n=28) wore a medical grade smartwatch for 30 days, collecting continuous heart rate variability, activity, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure, alongside initial baseline symptom and quality-of-life surveys. Individuals with hEDS showed greater instability and variability in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as the HRV metric LF/HF ratio, in comparison to healthy controls (p-values: 0.04, 0.02, 0.02). During sleep, metrics of parasympathetic activity (HRV measures: HF power, pNN50, RMSSD) trended lower in hEDS than healthy in comparison. As expected, survey domains assessing physiologic symptoms and quality-of-life were significantly worse in the hEDS cohort (p-values < 0.05). Notably, autonomic metrics correlated with GI symptoms in the hEDS cohort (Spearman’s rho range: 0.38-0.60), and psychological symptoms in the healthy cohort (Spearman’s rho range: -0.47-0.41). Principal component analysis (PCA) of physiologic and symptom features clearly separated groups, supporting distinct physiologic profiles. Combination of GI symptom index and wearable monitoring show promise as a hybrid screening approach that could substantially shorten the time to diagnosis in this population.