Since the Apple Watch was released for now six yearsThere is already an important group of people, including myself, who can proudly say that we are alive thanks to the fact that we were wearing the Apple watch on our wrist at a critical time in our lives.
Everyone knows the constant relationship that Apple devices have with medicine, ensuring that with each new version, they help us a little more to enjoy good health. Now a new medical study of the heart has just been published for which the Apple Watch.
One morning in April, my Apple Watch woke me up with its vibration alerting me to a low heart rate. Marked 25 beats per minute. Three hours later they were able to recover my vital signs in the ICU of a hospital. The following day, I underwent heart surgery and a pacemaker was inserted so that another "low" like the one I had that morning would not happen again. Saved by the bell… from my Apple Watch.
And this story did not happen to a man from Massachusetts or a woman from Ohio, as we usually read from time to time, but it happened to A server. Many times I have thought what would have happened if I had not been in the habit of sleeping with my Apple Watch on. I probably hadn't woken up by now.
That is why I always pay special attention to news related to the Apple Watch and its benefits for people's health. A new study by the Stanford Hospital has been published in PLoS One this week.
110 patients monitored
Demographic characteristics of the patients studied.
This study has used 110 patients with heart problems and all of them have been monitored from their homes with Apple Watch and iPhones and a special application designed for it.
The data from the same suggest that these devices used could be used to monitor the motor frailty of cardiac patients with surprising precision. Similar checks were carried out during clinic visits to provide a basis for comparison with data obtained by Apple devices from property.
In the study, data obtained in a 6-minute walk test (6MWT) were evaluated, as well as passively collected activity data to complement or even replace the test. 6MWT in the hospital in patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Comparing the readings taken by the Apple Watch and the tests on the clinic, the study was able to find out if the Apple wearable could be used to reliably measure the functional capacity of patients.
Surprising data obtained
According to the study, the Apple Watch could accurately assess the functional capacity of a patient with up to 90% sensitivity and 85% reliability.
Under a supervised hospital environment, the iPhone and Apple Watch with the VascTrac app were able to accurately assess the person's 'frailty' with a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 85%. Outside the hospital in an unsupervised setting, the data obtained from the 6MWT was a 83% reliable.
Passive data collected at the patient's home was almost as accurate in predicting functional capacity as data obtained in a 6MWT test done in the clinic, with an area under curve (AUC) of 0,643 and 0,704, respectively.
The study finally concluded that the combination of the Apple Watch and the iPhone can be perfectly used to measure heart data remotely without the need for regular visits to the hospital.