I'm wondering if Apple might add blood pressure monitoring in some subsequent release either of the hardware (S7?) or just possibly the software although my guess is that if it was possible they would hold it back to use as an extra s7 feature to encourage upgrades.
8 years ago (I think) I think I signed up via a Kickstarter project for a device called the "Scanadu Scout" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanadu) that wasn't that dissimilar to the health sensors in an Apple Watch S6. You held it up to your forehead and rested a finger on a button on the top of the device (resting the finger was similar to resting the finger on the AW crown for an ECG, both designed to form a single-lead ECG pathway through the body). What was interesting though was that the Scanadu not only did ECG, heart rate and I think blood-ox but it also gave a systolic/diastolic blood pressure reading all using light sensors in the part that you pressed against your forehead which makes me think that in theory the S6 might have the sensors, or if not exactly the right ones in the s6 then close enough for the S7 to evolve the sensors to a point where BP could be taken as well.
I occasionally compared the Scanadu BP reading with one taken via inflatable cuff and it seemed pretty accurate although ultimately Scanadu failed to get FDA approval (one of the main reasons for putting out the kickstarter version) so they ended up deliberately bricking all of the devices that they had sent out to kickstarter supporters and earned the nickname "Scamadu" for a while because those supporters weren't particularly happy. Maybe it ended up that I was just lucky that my readings seemed to be quite accurate and across a bigger test sample it was nowhere near accurate enough for the FDA to approve it but that was way back in 2012 so maybe the technique of reading blood pressure from a single cluster of skin contact sensors has evolved and it could find its way onto Apple's feature list at some point? The other issue would be whether the Scanadu needed to be on the forehead because of some anatomical property there such as thinner skin, veins and/or arteries closer to the surface, less sub-cut fat and/or other stuff and the wrist would not be a suitable monitoring site.
Does anyone here know anything about this technology and how it might (or might not) have evolved since the Scanadu Scout? Regular BP monitoring would be another very nice feature to have especially in these troubling times when hypertension is a major co-morbidity factor (the biggest in one quite big early multi-hospital NYC study) for C19.
8 years ago (I think) I think I signed up via a Kickstarter project for a device called the "Scanadu Scout" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanadu) that wasn't that dissimilar to the health sensors in an Apple Watch S6. You held it up to your forehead and rested a finger on a button on the top of the device (resting the finger was similar to resting the finger on the AW crown for an ECG, both designed to form a single-lead ECG pathway through the body). What was interesting though was that the Scanadu not only did ECG, heart rate and I think blood-ox but it also gave a systolic/diastolic blood pressure reading all using light sensors in the part that you pressed against your forehead which makes me think that in theory the S6 might have the sensors, or if not exactly the right ones in the s6 then close enough for the S7 to evolve the sensors to a point where BP could be taken as well.
I occasionally compared the Scanadu BP reading with one taken via inflatable cuff and it seemed pretty accurate although ultimately Scanadu failed to get FDA approval (one of the main reasons for putting out the kickstarter version) so they ended up deliberately bricking all of the devices that they had sent out to kickstarter supporters and earned the nickname "Scamadu" for a while because those supporters weren't particularly happy. Maybe it ended up that I was just lucky that my readings seemed to be quite accurate and across a bigger test sample it was nowhere near accurate enough for the FDA to approve it but that was way back in 2012 so maybe the technique of reading blood pressure from a single cluster of skin contact sensors has evolved and it could find its way onto Apple's feature list at some point? The other issue would be whether the Scanadu needed to be on the forehead because of some anatomical property there such as thinner skin, veins and/or arteries closer to the surface, less sub-cut fat and/or other stuff and the wrist would not be a suitable monitoring site.
Does anyone here know anything about this technology and how it might (or might not) have evolved since the Scanadu Scout? Regular BP monitoring would be another very nice feature to have especially in these troubling times when hypertension is a major co-morbidity factor (the biggest in one quite big early multi-hospital NYC study) for C19.
