Apple Watch's heart rate sensors alert man to undiagnosed atrial fibrillation
An Apple Watch owner in England was recently rescued by a watchOS alert that his heart rate had suddenly spiked, even though he otherwise felt fine.
Kevin Pearson was already at a hospital accompanying his father to an appointment, when his Watch warned him that his heart had surged to 161 beats per minute, The Independent said on Monday. That rate is higher than what many athletes reach in the middle of intense exercise.
Despite not feeling any symptoms of a heart attack, Pearson said he followed the Watch's instructions and sat down, keeping an eye on his heart rate for several minutes. It ebbed and flowed, down from its original peak but still ranging between 79 and 135 beats per minute.
Pearson was concerned that the Watch was inaccurate, but asked doctors to check regardless. They discovered that he was suffering from atrial fibrillation, and directed him to specialists at a bigger hospital, where the seriousness of the situation was reconfirmed.
He wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook in thanks, and as of today he's set his Watch to alert him to spikes over 120 beats per minute.
"I've used my Apple Watch for calendar events, to complete its targets by exercising, and using it to lose weight," Pearson remarked. "The heart rate wasn't really of any particular value, and I didn't even know it could alert you if it was too high."
Though the accuracy of the Watch's heart rate sensors isn't infallible -- it can sometimes fluctuate widely, including during exercise -- Apple has made a particular point of emphasizing health uses. The company is even running the Apple Heart Study in conjunction with Stanford Medicine, one benefit being people who receive alerts similar to Pearson's can be put in touch with professionals and even sent an EKG patch.
Kevin Pearson was already at a hospital accompanying his father to an appointment, when his Watch warned him that his heart had surged to 161 beats per minute, The Independent said on Monday. That rate is higher than what many athletes reach in the middle of intense exercise.
Despite not feeling any symptoms of a heart attack, Pearson said he followed the Watch's instructions and sat down, keeping an eye on his heart rate for several minutes. It ebbed and flowed, down from its original peak but still ranging between 79 and 135 beats per minute.
Pearson was concerned that the Watch was inaccurate, but asked doctors to check regardless. They discovered that he was suffering from atrial fibrillation, and directed him to specialists at a bigger hospital, where the seriousness of the situation was reconfirmed.
He wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook in thanks, and as of today he's set his Watch to alert him to spikes over 120 beats per minute.
"I've used my Apple Watch for calendar events, to complete its targets by exercising, and using it to lose weight," Pearson remarked. "The heart rate wasn't really of any particular value, and I didn't even know it could alert you if it was too high."
Though the accuracy of the Watch's heart rate sensors isn't infallible -- it can sometimes fluctuate widely, including during exercise -- Apple has made a particular point of emphasizing health uses. The company is even running the Apple Heart Study in conjunction with Stanford Medicine, one benefit being people who receive alerts similar to Pearson's can be put in touch with professionals and even sent an EKG patch.
Comments
My heart rate peaks at just under 170 when my workout is intense. I know this because of the Apple Watch, but I also don't need my Watch to tell me I'm at my max as I can feel my pulse rate through every part of my body (without even using my fingers to count). Of course, I wear my Watch because one day warn me about an atypical situation. I also wear my Watch to bed and use the app Sleep Watch. On days that I burn 475+ Active Calories in a single session I have 6% better sleep that night.
What she thought was pneumonia turned out to be a heart attack. Not only that, but after a thorough battery of tests the doctors informed that this was probably the smaller of two heart attacks he’d suffered in a week.
The week ended with a bypass and drugs he’ll need to take for the rest of his life.
So yes, it’s entirely possible that someone might not notice an unusually fast heart rate.
I assume that there are plenty of other health monitoring they could do that would work for the major of the population but nixed because it's not good enough for them with their mindshare and reputation. Smaller companies can take bigger risks on such claims, I'd imagine.
If Apple doesn't eventually get sued for the Watch in terms of health monitoring I'll be surprised. So far I'm only seeing a week lawsuit for Apple haven't stolen their tech.
Instead, I believe, Apple focuses on putting out the best product they can -- and enhancing it when they can -- and letting the customers and revenue derive from that...