Cool! My wife and I participate.
I wonder if apple would consider adding Heart Rate Variability (HRV) detection in future apple watches. It's actually a better indicator of heart health than HR is.
Nothing specific from the side of Apple or the researchers involved - I just had double thoughts with the cultural background of Facebook/ Cambridge Analytica/ DNA databases etc. that have been swirling around the past several months. I know I could have answered my questions if I had put in the time to do the research and figure it out for myself, but I got too busy and erred on the side of caution.
As I understand both cases (yours and the one mentioned in the article) were false positives (which is good for both of you). In the end the researches will know the rate of false positives. If it is high, it does not matter if the technique can identify real issues or not. It will simply be impractical and cost prohibitive in real life.I'm also one that the app alerted for an abnormal rhythm - afib. First bout of it that I have had, that I know of. Since then I rarely take the watch off.
I would like to clarify a few things that were stated in that quote. First, the "doctor" that contacts you (not sure if it is a doctor) makes it clear that you need to see your own doctor. They are not calling to diagnose. I also wore a heart patch they sent (not really state of the art - a common thing for heart patients to wear); they want to see if there is another episode in that record, and how it correlates to watch data. While they do send you the records at the end, they again made it clear that they were not providing a diagnosis and to share the records with your own doctor (who was happy to have them).
I think this is a great alert device, and my doctor certainly agreed. However, I wouldn't put too much faith in the staff conducting the study to serve as your proxy physician as that quote implied. But if you are of that age or of risk, the watch certainly can bring a little piece of mind.
I did not know about the study. I did not understand how the heart rate could help me. I was interested in exercise, breathing, etc.
Last Sunday I clearly understood how the heart rate info would help me. Sat. and Sunday I felt tired after walking the dog a short time. I was jittery and tired. I went to bed and started reading.
2 hours later I get a message from my Apple Watch. It read something like this. “You have been resting for a while but your heart rate reads “41”. It might be advisable to get in touch with your doctor.”
Just in case I tried calling the doctor. Of course being Sunday, I talked to the nurse. She asked me a few questions and advised me to go to the hospital. she called EMS. As we were talking firemen and an ambulance showed up. I found myself surrounded by doctors asking if I had a will, a living will, etc. After getting scans, etc. Etc, they told me that the top part of my heart was hardly communicating with the bottom half.
They had an emergency operation, inserted a pacer. The doctors were shocked to hear my Apple Watch warned me of trouble. After telling my story to so many people in the hospital, I thought I would thank Tim Cook. A few hours later I received a reply wishing me well.
I’m still amazed how life is so fragile.
Thank you so much. Several doctors at the hospital came to visit me to verify that the story they heard was true, lol.What a great story and outcome for you. If the study saved just one person it was a worthwhile project and it makes me glad I was a participant. I hope they were able to get valuable information from the data we all provided over the past year. I wish you have a very healthy and happy long life!