The number that frames this story is not about a device. It is estimated that roughly half of people with cystic fibrosis worldwide have never been diagnosed.
That figure, cited by Susanna McColley of Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago in the hospital's announcement of a new wearable sweat test, explains why hardware matters. Without treatment, she said, life expectancy is under five years, against a projected median survival of 66 years in the United States today. CFTR modulator drugs have changed the course of the disease, but only for people who have been identified.
