Apple Watch Demonstrates 97 Percent Accuracy in Detecting Hypertension and Sleep Apnea
A new study has revealed that the Apple Watch is capable of accurately detecting hypertension and sleep apnea. This comes from a health startup company called Cardiogram.
According to reports, the study was presented on Nov. 13 at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions. The researchers recruited approximately 6,000 Cardiogram app users to collect the data needed to make a conclusion. As such, the results indicated that Apple Watch, as well as Fitbit, demonstrated a significantly high accuracy in detecting hypertension and sleep apnea; so much so that the gadgets can be used for initial screening.
The Apple Watch demonstrated 97 percent overall accuracy, 90 percent in detecting hypertension, and 82 percent for sleep apnea. The collaborative study between Cardiogram and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) emphasized that this might be the first step in justifying the integration of a heart sensor, as the technology needed in order to do so is similar to the ones used for hypertension and sleep apnea.
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"The idea here is that by screening continuously you would identify people with hypertension who might not know they have it," Cardiogram co-founder Johnson Hsieh told TechCrunch. "And then you'd guide them through the appropriate final diagnosis, which would be a blood pressure cuff and then treatment."
The American Sleep Apnea Association has revealed that sleep apnea, in particular, affects 22 million adults in the country, and at its most severe form, it is capable of stopping a person from breathing. As such, it is considered as an increasing concern and one that can be addressed with the modern world's technology. Meanwhile, hypertension plagues 75 million Americans, which makes them vulnerable to heart disease and stroke.
Cardiogram co-founder Brandon Ballinger expressed the benefits of the result of the study in that this may be a more accurate and efficient way of preventing undesirable diseases and conditions.
