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

[FelixDerKater]

This is a good advance for those who avoid doctors.

 

[chucker23n1]

This is a good advance for those who avoid doctors.

That’s nonsense. How many people in their twenties, thirties, fourties do you know who go, once a quarter, to their GP just in case they have developed diabetes? Leaving aside the financial ramifications (in the US), that’s simply not a thing people do.

 

[IJ Reilly]

This. This was exactly my point. We would need to know much more about how the statistical analysis was conducted to determine anything about how significant (see what I did there?) the 85% number is. I have been involved with predictive studies where they would have killed for 85%, and others where that wasn't good enough. It really depends. We can't know and neither can this person.

Quite right. Drugs with far less than 85% efficacy are released onto the market all the time. They work for the people for whom they work and it is quite worth having them around for those people. If I understand what is being suggested by this study it is not that heart rate can or should be used as a proxy for blood glucose but that it can potentially be used to detect more people who ought to be monitoring their blood glucose level.
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That’s nonsense. How many people in their twenties, thirties, fourties do you know who go, once a quarter, to their GP just in case they have developed diabetes? Leaving aside the financial ramifications (in the US), that’s simply not a thing people do.

Or even quite a bit older than their 40s. Even if you do go for a regular annual wellness exam, and get the usual blood panel your doctor will likely order, the blood glucose test isn't going to be much of an indicator unless the levels are way out of whack at the moment you happen to be tested. Blood glucose has to be tested at the right times of day and multiple times of day to track what is really going on, and only diagnosed diabetics do that.

 

[FelixDerKater]

That’s nonsense. How many people in their twenties, thirties, fourties do you know who go, once a quarter, to their GP just in case they have developed diabetes? Leaving aside the financial ramifications (in the US), that’s simply not a thing people do.

I see you missed the point entirely. Let me clarify. This is beneficial for those who avoid doctors, as it may alert them to a problem they would not have otherwise known about until the disease had progressed.

 

[chucker23n1]

Or even quite a bit older than their 40s. Even if you do go for a regular annual wellness exam, and get the usual blood panel your doctor will likely order, the blood glucose test isn't going to be much of an indicator unless the levels are way out of whack at the moment you happen to be tested. Blood glucose has to be tested at the right times of day and multiple times of day to track what is really going on, and only diagnosed diabetics do that.

Yes, and if you go annually, that means you may have already had untreated diabetes for close to a year.
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I see you missed the point entirely. Let me clarify. This is beneficial for those who avoid doctors, as it may alert them to a problem they would not have otherwise known about until the disease had progressed.

Sorry, I thought you were being sardonic.

 

[steveoc]

Wonder if similar technology could be applied to early stroke detection!

Having had a stroke myself, contacting emergency services promptly,and being medevaced to a stroke center quickly, but it was still too late to prevent severe impact!

 

[michaelsviews]

What world do you live in where people have a doctor’s check-up including blood glucose, “every few months or whenever”? I don’t know anyone in their teens, twenties, thirties (typical ages for T1) who even has that checked every five years.
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That sort of accessory band function sounds good to me, but the technology isn’t there to do glucose monitoring that way.

Few being 3 months and at least at the VA you can get it checked every "few, 90 days, 3 months" If your past AIC was high and your readings from the portable one they give are high also.

Just because YOU don't know of anyone that is T1 in there teens, twenties, thirties doesn't mean they don't exist.

Technology is coming slowly but promising

 

[chucker23n1]

Few being 3 months and at least at the VA you can get it checked every "few, 90 days, 3 months" If your past AIC was high and your readings from the portable one they give are high also.

Why are you trying to "explain" this?

Someone who already has diabetes gets quarterly check-ups, but this is specifically about people who don't yet know they have such an issue.

Just because YOU don't know of anyone that is T1 in there teens, twenties, thirties doesn't mean they don't exist.

Um, what are you even talking about? I got T1D in my twenties.