Apple Working With Stanford to Determine If Apple Watch Can Detect Abnormal Heart Rhythms

[pat500000]

Well even you don't understand the difference. Heart rate (number of contractions of the heart per minute) is not detected by electrocardiography (ECG) but rather by echocardiography (echo; ultrasound of the heart), or by auscultating the heart with a stethoscope. ECG only meassures the electrical activity, which not always translates into a heart beat and thus not always contributes to the heart rate.

Regardless, a pulse measurement may be able to indicate an arythmia. It would probably miss some of the arythmias, but it would rarely give false positive results as the difference from electrical activity to heart rate to pulse is usually a loss of frequency rather than addition. Thus a warning about an uneven or too fast pulse would rarely be false positive. This would possibly help find plenty of undiagnosed atrial fibrillations – especially if data is combined with other predisposing risk factors such as age – and save people from strokes, for example.

ECG does detect the rhythm though. Rhythm does provide info about the HR. Example: If it was bradycardia, it shows QRS complex on the monitor. You can read off that and calculate times 10 for close measure (measurement of the HR) for simple 6 second measurement. For more accurate...it requires more detailed calcuation to determine the HR.

just saying.

 

[Rarecandie]

Apple is planning to work with Stanford and telemedicine vendor American Well to determine whether the heart rate sensor in the Apple Watch can be used to detect abnormal heart rhythms and common heart conditions, reports CNBC.

An Apple Watch, if able to accurately detect arrhythmias, or abnormal heart patterns, could identify patients that are at a high risk of atrial fibrillation or similar conditions. Heart arrhythmias aren't always symptoms of a serious disease, but Apple Watch owners could find out about a problem from the Apple Watch and then get it checked out at a doctor if the device is determined to accurately predict heart problems.

A study conducted by the University of California, San Francisco and the team behind the Cardiogram app previously determined that the Apple Watch was able to detect abnormal heart rhythms with 97 percent accuracy. Apple could get even better results as it has access to raw data.

Just today, Apple CEO Tim Cook talked about Apple's health interests in an interview with Fortune. He said Apple is "extremely interested" in health, and that it represents a major business opportunity.Cook also said that Apple has been surprised to learn how the heart rate monitoring in the Apple Watch has already been helping people. Many people collect data with the Apple Watch, notice something amiss, and then go to the doctor to get it checked out. "A not-insignificant number have found out if they hadn't come into the doctor they would have died," said Cook.

Apple's study in partnership with American Well and Stanford is set to begin later this year, according to CNBC's sources.

Article Link: Apple Working With Stanford to Determine If Apple Watch Can Detect Abnormal Heart Rhythms

[doublepost=1505197524][/doublepost]I can say my Apple Watch saved my life. I had very strange readings and went to my Doctor. He looked at them sent me off to a cardiologist who diagnosed me with ventricular tachycardia and implanted a defibrillator which saved my life August 24. I sent a thank you to Tim and everyone in Cupertino. I had no clue I had this issue before the watch.

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

Health sensors and sickness awareness is the true purpose of the smart watch in general to my opinion, if the vision of apple will come through it will be big contribution to the world,and that what i so love about apple and especially tim cock, always on the mission to contribute to the mankind and not just create gadgets, those values are irreplaceable ... go apple

 

[MH01]

They will need to improve the HR or move it to the strap

 

[recoil80]

I hope it will be in the bands and not necessarily the watch itself

I wonder if putting the sensor in the band will result in higher accuracy.
I'm not sure my AW is returning the correct heart rate at the moment. Sometimes I read values that seems random to me, I cant go from 120bpm to 70bpm during a workout while I'm still running. Some data seems accurate, some looks wrong.
I don't know if it is due to the way I wear my AW, maybe is not placed correctly on the wrist but I want to wear in a comfortable way, I don't want to tighten too much to my wrist so it doesn't even slightly moves.

 

[randyj]

That would be great!
I had AF. Had surgery to zap it in 2012. Sometimes my Apple Watch reads my heart rate as way under what it should be. Ie when running, it might go from 65 to 150 in a matter of seconds.
I put it down to maybe AF returning and the watch being confused by a non consistent beat.

On a slightly related note, I was on a date recently and showed her how the watch is constantly sending my heart rate information to the phone. She asked to look at it for that day. The smart girl looked at my elevated heart rate during the time I had spent with her, which she rightly decided that I liked her. After a few drinks she confidently made the first move, and I ended up in her bed that night. Thanks Apple Watch!!!!

 

[Elijen]

You don't need to work with Stanford to be able to detect arrhythmia.

 

[stevet]

Now this is really cool...I'm excited where the apple watch can go.

It's unfortunately overly optimistic. It's not anywhere near reliable nor is it going to be used in a Medical setting. Just won't be good enough. Very good for fitness but not up to par for medical use, definitely not for predicting or sensing cardiac events.
[doublepost=1505213772][/doublepost]

[doublepost=1505197524][/doublepost]I can say my Apple Watch saved my life. I had very strange readings and went to my Doctor. He looked at them sent me off to a cardiologist who diagnosed me with ventricular tachycardia and implanted a defibrillator which saved my life August 24. I sent a thank you to Tim and everyone in Cupertino. I had no clue I had this issue before the watch.

Not buying it.

 

[Robert.Walter]

I’ve been thinking about these possibilities since the Watch was announced several years ago.

There is a huge opportunity for patients and doctors and insurers to optimize benefits and dramatically cut costs by early detection and shorter monitoring intervals (i.e. a doc can remotely check med effects a couple of days after an office visit instead of weeks or months later.)

I’ve had upper chamber fibrillation for decades. I’ve often wondered if this is a “normal” heart function. I.E. a cleaning function where this fast flutter overlay knocks loose small clots before they can grow large enough to cause breakaway damage, i.e. stroke or other embolism. In this construct, the extremes are what we see as injurious, too fast = wear on heart or interferes with flow, while too slow or infrequent allows clots to grow to a dangerous size.

I think we will learn new things, some that will overturn conventional wisdom, about heart rhythms as more and more folks wear a watch.

 

[bobob]

An almost identical story came out 4 months ago on May 11th on TechCrunch - "Apple’s Watch can detect an abnormal heart rhythm with 97% accuracy".

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

While this is technically speaking very awesome, they will have to do a really really good job in regards of privacy concerns. I don’t think Apple should have any access to this data at all and one should have the option to only very specifically share this data with others such as your doctor.

I can understand this. This data should be private.

 

[Jeremy1026]

CarioGram is already doing this. So its definitely possible, just a matter of if it is reliable enough to be a marketed feature.

 

[Pilgrim1099]

Privacy?
Going to Shoppers Drug Mary or Walgreens to heck your heart rate and blood pressure doesn't require any sign off for those apparatus' available for anyone to use at no charge. Their already getting our heart rate.

I can see great security applications with this:

1 I envisioned on Watch S1 announcement day - using AW as a security token (access card) for building / office entry - using heart rate history against per entry for 'normal' not under duress heart rate. Under duress deniers access. Yeah imagination is wild on that one.

Irregular heart rate to detect stroke or other ailments along with gyroscope for users with sudden weak heart rate/blood pressure/failure causing sudden loss of consciousness resulting in falling has an emergency call to 911. HealthKit and HomeKit working hand in hand using home internet connectivity for alerts, monitoring etc.

Both years ahead but I feel apple is thinking 4yrs into the future with this research starting.

I have a huge problem with this. The Watch came out a couple of years ago. If they're working with Stanford to determine if the device can detect abnormal heart rhythms, then why the HELL did they NOT do this in the FIRST place?!

So why now? This tells me that the AW does not have the feature to do it despite the upcoming keynote today. This tells me that Apple is waiting until a year or two to build in a new feature for the AW to detect abnormal heart rhythms as an early warning system. If this thing was so advanced at nearly $1,000, it should have that ability to do it already.

It's almost akin to Tim Cook on stage at Keynote to say " Oh by the way, we're working with Stanford so that your next Apple Watch in 2020 will be able to detect abnormal heart rhythms " and smile? This is going to make the audience think twice about buying the AW and wait it out.

 

[recoil80]

On a slightly related note, I was on a date recently and showed her how the watch is constantly sending my heart rate information to the phone. She asked to look at it for that day. The smart girl looked at my elevated heart rate during the time I had spent with her, which she rightly decided that I liked her. After a few drinks she confidently made the first move, and I ended up in her bed that night. Thanks Apple Watch!!!!

You should email your story to Phil Schiller or Tim Cook, they may start a new ad campaign for Apple Watch

CarioGram is already doing this. So its definitely possible, just a matter of if it is reliable enough to be a marketed feature.

Is it necessary to get F.D.A. approval? If so it could slow the process of releasing an AW, unless they disable the feature via software and enable it after the approval

 

[Konceptz804]

How long before insurance companies get involved and start adjusting premiums based on reported vitals from this watch?

 

[ghostwriter]

Earlier this summer I had an unexplained loss of consciousness. Basically fainted while washing dishes. I woke up to my AW buzzing my wrist with an alert for a high heart rate. The ER doc had seen a similar incident before with a fellow physician and asked to see my iPhone. Sure enough, buried in the Health app is a selection "Show all data" for heart rate. The AW detected a very low heart rate just before I lost consciousness, followed by the high heart rate I woke up to. Enough to put me into a round of cardiac tests.

The end result: nothing unusual found in all the cardiac tests, but they're considering scheduling a procedure to implant a 3 yr heart monitor.

While none of my cardiac team are making any decisions based on data from the AW, they did say it's obvious the AW detected something that may point to a potential problem. In the case of the ER doc's friend, his tests uncovered AFIB. If not for the AW, it may not have been detected at all.

It's not medical grade data, yet, but it's certainly proven helpful to some of us.

 

[IJ Reilly]

[doublepost=1505197524][/doublepost]I can say my Apple Watch saved my life. I had very strange readings and went to my Doctor. He looked at them sent me off to a cardiologist who diagnosed me with ventricular tachycardia and implanted a defibrillator which saved my life August 24. I sent a thank you to Tim and everyone in Cupertino. I had no clue I had this issue before the watch.

Could you describe these very strange readings?

 

[Lioness~]

Now this is really cool...I'm excited where the apple watch can go.

As long as it doesn't run away from me when I bought it. Don't want AW's walking around on their own

 

[BuddyTronic]

Who else but Apple is willing to take the high road on things like cardiac health and diabetes and others?

There are probably a lot of hoops to go through and red tape and regulations and liability. But it can be solved and Apple is perfectly positioned to do it. (coincidence? )

All the copy-cat companies making smart watches cannot hold a candle to Apple in this "health" category.

Just wait - I would not be surprised if big insurance companies offer big discounts to Apple Watch owners. If you are a high cardiac risk and want certain types of life insurance I'm betting you will be getting a fully subsidized Apple Watch eventually.

It's interesting and I am happy to see Apple going in this direction.

 

[Tech198]

This would be good for workout....

 

[DeepIn2U]

I have a huge problem with this. The Watch came out a couple of years ago. If they're working with Stanford to determine if the device can detect abnormal heart rhythms, then why the HELL did they NOT do this in the FIRST place?!

So why now? This tells me that the AW does not have the feature to do it despite the upcoming keynote today. This tells me that Apple is waiting until a year or two to build in a new feature for the AW to detect abnormal heart rhythms as an early warning system. If this thing was so advanced at nearly $1,000, it should have that ability to do it already.

It's almost akin to Tim Cook on stage at Keynote to say " Oh by the way, we're working with Stanford so that your next Apple Watch in 2020 will be able to detect abnormal heart rhythms " and smile? This is going to make the audience think twice about buying the AW and wait it out.

Why did humans figure out there is a type 2 diabetes 15yrs after the original type 1?

Why did it take the willingness to go through pain and complete unknowns from a famous actors and writers producer to OUSH diabetes research when it was completely unknown???!!!

Why are WE as humans just now pushing internationally for banning gas powered cars in China, UK and another country by 2040? Why in 2040 when Tesla he working 4 models, when Honda is the first company to sell and ship an electric car Honda Civic EV back in 1997 and Porsche had a driving electric back in 1913!!!!

Did you know NYC had electric charging stations in the 1920's for electric cars?!

Why is the question that advances science and human curiousity beyond the now or yesterday THAT is your why.

 

[IJ Reilly]

From the ongoing presentation it seems the detection will be for atrial fibrillation, presumably defined as spikes in resting heart rate. What's unclear to me is the threshold it will use to supply a warning. This will be a feature to be followed with interest.

 

[Defthand]

Now that the AppleWatch is no longer reliant on a phone, I may finally rid myself of that conspicuous ball and chain and use a watch exclusively.

A lot of effort goes into making an iPhone secure. It just occurred to me... how is the AppleWatch secured?