How your Apple Watch could save your life
Apple and third-party providers turn an accessory into a medical marvel
Apple confirms that iOS 11.3, currently in beta testing, will be able to send your location to the emergency services automatically. But your Watch is already fast becoming an important diagnostic aid. Thanks to advances in sensors, new accessories, and improved deep-learning software, our wearables could soon become as important as our doctors.
We spoke to Rachael Fisher, a Customer Service Adviser for recycling company Bywaters, who last year had her life potentially saved by her Apple Watch. “I decided to randomly check my heartbeat to see what my resting BPM was using the Apple Watch. To my shock it was showing it was 140/150bpm (the average is between 70 to 100bpm),” Fisher told us.
“As the weeks progressed into months, I realized that my heart was never slowing down. Because of this, I had a blood test and it became clear that I have an overactive thyroid, so severe that my doctor said I could have had a heart attack at any moment. I am now on beta blockers and other medication which is slowing my heart down, thankfully.”
Just in time
Fisher is not alone. In October, New York podcast producer and reporter James Green’s Apple Watch prompted him to seek urgent medical attention after it noticed a spike in his resting heart rate. He found out it was due to a blood clot in his lungs.
These might be rare incidents, but recent studies have found that the heart rate data collected from devices like the Apple Watch is nearly as accurate as a medical grade electrocardiogram test. Last year, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared AliveCor’s KardiaBand, a watch strap that’s a portable electrocardiogram (ECG) reader, making it the first true medical accessory for the Apple Watch.
Plus, several companies have been working on additional apps and deep-learning software that make the data collected from sensors more useful. For example, the team behind the Cardiogram app, working with the American Heart Association, found that, using a deep neural network called DeepHeart, data from Fitbit and Apple Watch devices could be used to detect both hypertension and sleep apnea.
“This study is one of the first showing that AI can be trained to perform a task doctors can’t do — analyzing a week’s worth of ordinary wearable data and discerning subtle patterns associated with hypertension and sleep apnea, which are invisible to the naked eye,” Cardiogram’s co-founder Brandon Ballinger said. “This lets both artificial and human intelligence play to their strengths: AI sifting through large data sets to discern hidden patterns, and humans delivering care with empathy and nuance.”
These examples are just the beginning. Apple has announced plans to partner with Stanford Medicine to collect heart rate data on irregular heart rhythms and notify users who may be experiencing atrial fibrillation. According to the New York Times, Apple could also be working on a non-invasive blood glucose monitoring system for a future version of the Watch. However, the story also cited industry experts as believing this technology was still a few years away.
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