from the insurance-companies-make-plans dept.
A study suggests that the Apple Watch could be used to detect hypertension and sleep apnea in users:
A new study out from health startup Cardiogram and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) suggests wearables like the Apple Watch, Fitbit and others are able to accurately detect common but serious conditions like hypertension and sleep apnea.
Cardiogram and UCSF previously demonstrated the ability for the Apple Watch to detect abnormal heart rhythm with a 97 percent accuracy. This new study shows the Watch can detect sleep apnea with a 90 percent accuracy and hypertension with an 82 percent accuracy.
Sleep apnea affects an estimated 22 million adults in the U.S., with another 80 percent of cases of moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnea undiagnosed, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association. This is a serious condition where the person affected stops breathing in their sleep and can lead to death.
Another 75 million American adults have high blood pressure (hypertension), according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), putting them at risk for heart disease and stroke, the top causes of death in the United States.
Cardiovascular Risk Stratification Using Off-the-Shelf Wearables and a Multi-Task Deep Learning Algorithm (DOI unknown)
Previously: Apple's Watch Can Detect an Abnormal Heart Rhythm With 97% Accuracy, UCSF Study Says
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According to a study conducted through heartbeat measurement app Cardiogram and the University of California, San Francisco, the Apple Watch is 97 percent accurate in detecting the most common abnormal heart rhythm when paired with an AI-based algorithm.
The study involved 6,158 participants recruited through the Cardiogram app on Apple Watch. Most of the participants in the UCSF Health eHeart study had normal EKG readings. However, 200 of them had been diagnosed with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heartbeat). Engineers then trained a deep neural network to identify these abnormal heart rhythms from Apple Watch heart rate data.
Cardiogram began the study with UCSF in 2016 to discover whether the Apple Watch could detect an oncoming stroke. About a quarter of strokes are caused by an abnormal heart rhythm, according to Cardiogram co-founder and data scientist for UCSF's eHeart study Brandon Ballinger.
Yes, but can the Apple Watch then pace you or shock you?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved an EKG reader medical device accessory for the Apple Watch:
Up until now, AliveCor has used the KardiaMobile device, which was stuck to the back of your smartphone and paired with an app to detect abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AFib). The new Apple Watch accessory, Kardiaband, clicks into a slot on the Watch band to do the same thing.
However, rather than needing to hold your smartphone with both hands for 30 seconds to get a reading, you can get an EKG reading continuously and discreetly just by touching the band's integrated sensor.
[...] EKGs are usually only available in offices and hospitals — and only after a life-threatening event. Having one on your wrist that you can use to check your heart and then send a readout straight to your doctor is vital to prevention of a heart attack or stroke. And, as Gundotra also points out, "It's not possible to diagnose atrial fibrillation without FDA clearance. That is a big, big play."
It's worth noting Apple could easily replicate what AliveCor is doing. It has all the right equipment within the Apple Watch and the manpower to do so. However, it doesn't seem likely Apple would want to go through the hassle of FDA approval for the Watch, which is a general purpose device used for numerous other applications besides getting your heart rate.
Also at CNET and Fast Company.
Update: Apple launched a study to look for irregular heart rhythms on the Apple Watch (just as feared)
Previously: Apple Watch Could be Used to Detect Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
Apple Watch wristband sensor claims to detect potassium in your blood — without needles
The AliveCor KardiaBand, a sensor compatible with the Apple Watch, can detect dangerous levels of potassium in blood with 94 percent accuracy. Though the US Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved KardiaBand for this purpose, it's an interesting step forward considering that, right now, the condition is usually caught using invasive blood tests that use needles.
The KardiaBand by AliveCor is a sensor that snaps into a slot on the watchband. The user touches the sensor, which then takes a reading of the electrical activity of the heart, called an electrocardiogram (EKG). This reading can reveal abnormal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AFib), and the sensor sends the information to an app. Yesterday, at the American College of Cardiology conference in Florida, AliveCor CEO Vic Gundotra presented research done with the Mayo Clinic showing that the same technology can detect too-high levels of potassium in the blood, called hyperkalemia. Hyperkalemia can be caused by, among other things, diabetes, dehydration, and chronic kidney disease. It can lead to kidney and heart failure and in general doesn't cause obvious symptoms — meaning you could have the condition and not know it.
[...] Some previous research [DOI: 10.1016/S0196-0644(05)81476-3] [DX] has suggested that EKGs may not be a good way to diagnose hyperkalemia, but, to be fair, that research was very limited and tested two human physicians. Another study suggested that EKG readings may not be sensitive enough [open, DOI: 10.2215/CJN.04611007] [DX] to catch everyone with hyperkalemia and that the condition doesn't always cause a different EKG reading.
Also at 9to5Mac.
Related: Apple's Watch Can Detect an Abnormal Heart Rhythm With 97% Accuracy, UCSF Study Says
Apple Watch Could be Used to Detect Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
FDA Approves First Medical Device Accessory for the Apple Watch
Apple donates 1,000 watches to eating disorder study
The use of Apple Watches in medical studies now includes research into eating disorders. Apple is donating 1,000 smartwatches to a University of North Carolina study (the Binge Eating Genetics Initiative, or BEGIN) that will help understand bulimia nervosa patients and others with binge eating behavior. The wristwear will track heart rates over a month-long period to see if there are any spikes ahead of binging incidents. If there are, it might be possible to alert caregivers and patients before these acts take place.
They either have too many unwanted smartwatches laying around, or want doctors to prescribe the Apple Watch treatment.
Also at 9to5Mac and Fast Company.
Related: Apple's Watch Can Detect an Abnormal Heart Rhythm With 97% Accuracy, UCSF Study Says
Apple Watch Could be Used to Detect Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
FDA Approves First Medical Device Accessory for the Apple Watch
AliveCor Sensor for Apple Watch Could Detect Dangerous Levels of Potassium in the Blood
What Cardiologists Think About the Apple Watch's Heart-Tracking Feature
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday November 15 2017, @10:17AM (4 children)
From Gay sex and long phallic throat obstructions. If you are from San Francisco and have a thousand bucks to drop on a status symbol, then do it -- your life could depend on it.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 15 2017, @10:21AM (3 children)
Apple Watch Series 3 only costs $329 at Kohl's!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday November 15 2017, @11:46AM (1 child)
Anyone who wants a (much) more expensive Apple Watch Series 3, please let me know. Based on the prices... err, the price that you want I mean, I should be able to arrange something.
Really, even at a piece of $100,000; it will be a bit harder but I'm confident I'll manage. Come on now, can you imagine how justifiable smug can you be knowing you paid for your Apple Watch a 5-or-more-digits sum and all the others think the watch worth some small hundreds?
Just thinkdifferently!
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @01:23PM
Better tap into two markets at the same time: Sell homoeopathic Apple products. Get an Apple product, get it in contact with water, then make a D100 of that Apple-informed water to improve its effect, and then you can sell it for $100 per milliliter, as cure to lacking self-esteem. :-)
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday November 15 2017, @04:45PM
You don't want that. That's the cheap one. After one round of golf it'll be scratched. It'll look HORRIBLE. That's a polite word for it. You want the Edition, nothing scratches it except diamonds. So you gotta be careful around diamonds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @10:21AM (1 child)
Stop trying to impose your idea of human normal onto me, Herbert!
"Pulse is 242, blood pressure is practically nonexistent, assuming you call that green stuff in your veins blood."
"The readings are perfectly normal for me, Doctor."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @10:34AM
Fat shaming is the real disease here.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @01:16PM
Another reason not to get it. Not that I'm against detecting health issues, but I much prefer if my medical data stays between me and my doctor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 15 2017, @07:49PM
I had undiagnosed severe sleep apnea for over ten years. One of the most common symptoms is drowsiness while driving, and I never had that. So I figured the other symptoms were just a genetic fluke, a need for more sleep than most people but nothing more. If you have sleep apnea, you won't remember the pauses in your breathing while you sleep.
Adjusting to sleeping with the machine and mask was a real pain in the neck, it took over a month before I could manage it all night. But the difference in sleep quality and moods was huge. I used to have zero concentration and a nasty temper past seven PM, now I can stay up until ten or eleven without thinking or acting any differently than I did twelve hours earlier.