New Study Suggests Apple Watch Heart Rate Sensor Can Detect Early Signs of Diabetes

[MacRumors]

Cardiogram, a company that offers an app able to break down heart rate data collected by the Apple Watch, today shared the results of a new study that suggests the Apple Watch can be used to detect the signs of diabetes.

Cardiogram researchers teamed up with the University of California, San Francisco and used the Cardiogram DeepHeart neural network to determine that heart rate data collected from the Apple Watch was 85 percent accurate at distinguishing between people with diabetes and people without diabetes.

For the study, Cardiogram used more than 200 million sensor measurements from 14,011 participants using an Apple Watch or Android Wear device and the Cardiogram app, aggregating data that included heart rate, step count, and other activity.

Prediabetes is a condition that often goes unnoticed and undiagnosed because traditional methods of detection require glucose-sensing hardware. Detection via the Apple Watch and an AI-based algorithm like Cardiogram's DeepHeart has the potential to alert users that there's an issue so they can then follow up with a medical professional.

According to Cardiogram, its study is the first large-scale study that demonstrates how an ordinary heart rate sensor, like the one in the Apple Watch and other devices like the Fitbit, can detect early signs of diabetes. Because the pancreas is connected to the heart through the nervous system, the heart rate variability changes when a person begins experiencing diabetes symptoms.

Over the course of the last year, Cardiogram and UCSF have teamed up to do a lot of research into the potential for wrist-worn heart rate sensors to detect serious health conditions. Previous studies have shown the Apple Watch heart rate sensor's ability to detect conditions that include hypertension, sleep apnea, and atrial fibrillation.

While there's still a long way to go before research proves whether the Apple Watch can officially detect early health problems, Cardiogram plans to implement new features to incorporate DeepHeart directly into the Cardiogram app in the future, which will allow users to be alerted if early signs of disease are detected.

Apple has also launched its own study in partnership with Stanford to determine whether the heart rate sensor in the Apple Watch can be used to detect abnormal heart rhythms and common heart conditions.

You can sign up to participate in the Apple Heart Study by downloading and installing the Apple Heart Study app and wearing the Apple Watch on a regular basis. If the Apple Watch detects an irregular heart rhythm, you'll be contacted by researchers and may be asked to wear an ePatch monitor.

You can also participate in Cardiogram's studies by installing the Cardiogram app and signing up to join the mRhythm study.

Article Link: New Study Suggests Apple Watch Heart Rate Sensor Can Detect Early Signs of Diabetes

 

[Lamborrari]

Yet the Apple Watch still doesn’t have a pulse oximeter three generations later, even when it was believed it would be as simple as a software update.

 

[mtneer]

Wouldn't Apple run into the FDA and the AMA if it tried to make medical diagnoses??

 

[HarryWarden]

Or you could have your doctor test your blood sugar every few months or whenever, thereby catching pre-diabetes early enough to perhaps prevent the full blown thing.

 

[coolfactor]

Or you could have your doctor test your blood sugar every few months or whenever, thereby catching pre-diabetes early enough to perhaps prevent the full blown thing.

Or you could do both. It's not about choosing one or the other, but integrating daily monitoring into one's life without any additional inconveniences.

 

[Nunyabinez]

I just wish it were more useful for those of us who already know we have diabetes.

The only thing it may have done for me is motivate me to close my rings and I can’t say for certain that it has even done that.

 

[citysnaps]

Yet the Apple Watch still doesn’t have a pulse oximeter three generations later, even when it was believed it would be as simple as a software update.

Who “believed” that? Unless Apple said an oximeter was under development, why should anyone take issue with that not being available three generations later?

 

[Nunyabinez]

Or you could have your doctor test your blood sugar every few months or whenever, thereby catching pre-diabetes early enough to perhaps prevent the full blown thing.

Of course without some indication that there may be an issue, most doctors (and insurance companies) aren’t going want to have everyone just get their blood drawn at every visit.

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Who “believed” that? Unless Apple said an oximeter was under development, why should anyone take issue with that not being available three generations later?

Some people don't understand what they word "rumor" means. They take everything printed on the internet to be fact and then get mad when it doesn't come true.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Wouldn't Apple run into the FDA and the AMA if it tried to make medical diagnoses??

The one thing I wish Apple would do is allow extensible bands that hook directly into the CPU. That way another company could make something like a glucose monitoring band that connects to the watch. The third party would take care of the regulatory requirements.

 

[IJ Reilly]

The source article contains more information on what they are measuring and how it is predictive:

Why can diabetes be detected from heart rate and step count data?

JH: Your heart is connected with your pancreas via the autonomic nervous system. As people develop the early stages of diabetes, their pattern of heart rate variability shifts. In 2015, the Framingham Heart Study showed that high resting heart rate and low heart rate variability predicts who will develop diabetes over a 12-year period (https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/100/6/2443/2829673). In 2005, the ARIC study showed that heart rate variability declines faster in diabetics than non-diabetics over a 9-year period (http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/28/3/668.short).​

 

[RickInHouston]

Of course without some indication that there may be an issue, most doctors (and insurance companies) aren’t going want to have everyone just get their blood drawn at every visit.

Whaaaaaat? Doctors love to do tests so they can charge you for them. At least that had been my observation.

 

[Nunyabinez]

Whaaaaaat? Doctors love to do tests so they can charge you for them. At least that had been my observation.

You need a better doctor

 

[dfs]

Wouldn't Apple run into the FDA and the AMA if it tried to make medical diagnoses??

No, it needs to be qualified as a medical device. Medical devices provide data, which doctors interpret in order to make diagnoses.

I must say, when this was first released I downloaded and tested it, but I couldn't make heads or tails out of the way it graphically shows its data. For the likes of you and me (unless you happen to have a medical degree) it will be impossible to interpret what it shows until the developers either simplify its interface or put out some pretty detailed instructions about its use.

 

[RagingBrosGaming]

I have irregular heart beats all the time, about 500 a day or more. I’m also in the Heart Study and never once was I contacted by anyone.

 

[tito2020]

Yet the Apple Watch still doesn’t have a pulse oximeter three generations later, even when it was believed it would be as simple as a software update.

Just eat right and forget the apple watch

 

[scrapesleon]

85 percentage accuracy only can get better in the future

 

[ghanwani]

I heard Apple is working on a watch that allows the wearer to be immortal*. It figures out what is wrong with the user and delivers FDA approved nanotech treatment, all via iCloud, of course.

* There will be a footnote that the nanotech treatments might kill the wearer even though they are healthy, so there'll be an option to disable this functionality.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

So, um, will it tell me if I need to eat less meat? Eat more veggies? Drink better beer? Drink more water? Screw better chicks?

This kind of stuff is approaching clairvoyant...

 

[ghanwani]

So, um, will it tell me if I need to eat less meat? Eat more veggies? Drink better beer? Drink more water? Screw better chicks?

This kind of stuff is approaching clairvoyant...

It won't tell you what to do. It will tell your insurance company what you've been doing...

 

[BigMcGuire]

Just signed up for the app and study. Kinda cool how it shows your stats versus other people your age. Also signed up for the heart study. I’m in the Apple Heart Study as well. Hope it helps someone.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

Wouldn't Apple run into the FDA and the AMA if it tried to make medical diagnoses??

I'm sure there will be a disclosure and fine print stating that it only detects irregularities and is not a final diagnosis. They would have to be directed to go to their primary care doctor or in some cases, maybe, directly to the ER.

 

[ghanwani]

Just signed up for the app and study. Kinda cool how it shows your stats versus other people your age. Also signed up for the heart study. I’m in the Apple Heart Study as well. Hope it helps someone.

I'm 100% certain it will help Apple executives and shareholders.

 

[Will.O.Bie]

Yet the Apple Watch still doesn’t have a pulse oximeter three generations later, even when it was believed it would be as simple as a software update.

Do you also want it to inject insulin if you have diabetes right from the back of the watch if it detects that you need it? Lol...

 

[Apple_Robert]

Like Big Mac, I just signed up and am now in both studies. I am all for being a lab rat if it can help me or someone else.