A study published today suggests your Apple Watch could help detect and track serious heart conditions.
According to CNET, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco worked with the app Cardiogram on the Health eHeart study, gathering cardiovascular data from 6,158 people who used Apple Watches. They tested whether the watches were able to detect the difference between normal heart rhythm and atrial fibrillation (AF). The watches were able to detect AF with 97-percent accuracy.
AF can be hard to detect, as symptoms can be as subtle as fatigue or sweating. According to the American Heart Association, 2.7 million people in the US alone suffer from AF. The condition doubles the risk of heart-related deaths, and quintuples the risk of stroke. One treatment is taking medication which will reduce the likelihood of stroke during the irregular heart rhythm, so it’s important for sufferers to know when it’s happening.
The Heath eHeart team welcomes anyone over the age of 18 to participate in further data-gathering. If you want to contribute to the study, check out the sign-up page.
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