Apple Watch keeps spotting cardiac issues and saving lives, this time in Australia
In another case of the Apple Watch detecting a medical condition, an Australian man says the Watch alerted him to his elevated heart rate, leading to fast enough intervention to save his life.
According to 9 News in Australia, 24-year-old college student Adam Love received notifications on his Apple Watch that his sleeping heart rate had reached between 130 and 140 beats per minute. Alarmed, Love visited a doctor.
The visit culminated in Love being diagnosed with a hole in his heart, a serious condition that he had had since birth and had been missed to that point. During the examination that was prompted by the Apple Watch data, the doctors also discovered that the man's circulatory system was delivering aerated blood to the wrong location.
The Apple Watch wasn't the only new technology that helped save Love's life. His subsequent heart surgery was performed via a keyhole incision, which was patched up by a daVinci 3D robot, allowing Love -- who happens to study robotics -- a much faster recovery.
A woman and child were saved from a car accident after the activation of the Emergency SOS feature. The heart rate monitor helped lead to the diagnosis of a Florida teenager's kidney disease, while the same thing happened with a man's ruptured ulcer that same month. And a Hong Kong man's heart condition was spotted by the Apple Watch this past spring.
In some of those cases, including Love's, the life-saving properties have caused the users to declare themselves Apple Watch fans for life. Apple has not used any of these stories in advertising, although CEO Tim Cook has made personal phone calls to at least some of the users.
According to 9 News in Australia, 24-year-old college student Adam Love received notifications on his Apple Watch that his sleeping heart rate had reached between 130 and 140 beats per minute. Alarmed, Love visited a doctor.
The visit culminated in Love being diagnosed with a hole in his heart, a serious condition that he had had since birth and had been missed to that point. During the examination that was prompted by the Apple Watch data, the doctors also discovered that the man's circulatory system was delivering aerated blood to the wrong location.
The Apple Watch wasn't the only new technology that helped save Love's life. His subsequent heart surgery was performed via a keyhole incision, which was patched up by a daVinci 3D robot, allowing Love -- who happens to study robotics -- a much faster recovery.
Watches save lives
Love's is at least the fourth story to make the news rounds this year of the Apple Watch spotting a condition or otherwise playing a role in rescuing a user from a calamitous health emergency.A woman and child were saved from a car accident after the activation of the Emergency SOS feature. The heart rate monitor helped lead to the diagnosis of a Florida teenager's kidney disease, while the same thing happened with a man's ruptured ulcer that same month. And a Hong Kong man's heart condition was spotted by the Apple Watch this past spring.
In some of those cases, including Love's, the life-saving properties have caused the users to declare themselves Apple Watch fans for life. Apple has not used any of these stories in advertising, although CEO Tim Cook has made personal phone calls to at least some of the users.
Comments
Apple is actually doing it.
Use at night for a better view of your resting heart rate.
My reason is for sleep tracking. I have a hard time sleeping and sometimes feel I'm half asleep and not fully asleep. This could help us and researches so much!!
My Watch lasts more than 2 days already. I charge when I take a shower and get ready each day so I've rarely ever gone below 50% by the time I put it on the charger. I don't need it using cellular, WiFI, or Bluetooth whilst sleeping so I put it on Airplane Mode and in DND Mode so that raise to wake is disabled which means it barely uses any power at night.
However my own experience differs wildly.
Three weeks ago I ended up in A&E with Atrial Fibrillation and spent the night hooked up to various monitors, ECG etc.
I could hear two alert tones from the monitor almost constantly chirping low then high and the doctor told me my heart rate was going from 48bpm-184bpm.
What did my Apple Watch do during this drama?
It just sat there on my wrist telling me the time whenever I twisted my wrist around!
Interestingly it did record my heart rate from 47-165bpm in the Health App and I have had alerts telling me my heart rate was above 120bpm at rest previously but on that particular no warnings whatsoever either when I started to fell erratic heart rate which necessitated my trip to A&E or when hooked up to the aforementioned monitors.
A nurse even told me that my Apple Watch was not reading the correct rate vs. the monitors but I think she was not interpreting the monitor readout properly!
i upgraded from my original Apple Watch to the Series 3 in part because of the increased heart function although the big thing for me as a diabetic would be Continuous Glucose Monitoring.
I was hoping that the S3 would have this function as I remember reading some time ago about Tim Cook wearing some type of CGM monitor...
I don't expect Apple to advertise how the Apple Watch is a tool for early warning signs as a way of selling the device due to liability reasons, but they can surely state after the fact stories about how the Watch informed the wearer that something may be wrong, and your stories should at least be added to that tally.
And over 50% are fatal!
Apple is on the right track with the AppleWatch. It’s all about health.
Best
so the first day it happens to your heart rate, you feel nothing. The second day, nothing. The third, some tiredness. Or a feeling that some will ascribe to acid reflux, as it happens in the same area, and feels about the same. Possibly the next day, the damage has been great enough that you do feel a heart attack. But that last day is what almost all people feel, and then, it’s too late, you had the attack.
my watch warned me on that first day. In the hospital, with all the testing, they found nothing wrong anywhere, except for the high heart rate and blood pressure, which I never had before. I think I know what happened.
ive got an enlarged prostate, pretty large. I had a sore throat from the nite before, and I had a bad allergy attack. In the afternoon I took a Zertec, which I’ve only taken a couple of times before. But I also have some potato chips before bedtime. It helped prevent me from getting up to urinate in the middle of the nite. My doctor had said that was ok because my pressure used to be about 116/70.
So late that afternoon, I got this warning. After checking it out, I went to read the label on the Zertec box, which I hadn’t done because I usually take Claritin, and it doesn’t mention the prostate or blood pressure. The Zertec says you shouldn’t take it if you have either, and I had both, which I’ll explain.
almost everything affects your heart. It’s amazing, but true. The slight sore throat raises blood pressure and heart rate slightly. The allergy does the same. So does an enlarged prostate, again, slightly. Then there were the chips, which wouldn’t matter except for the rest, I believe. Your metabolism changes during the day too, which affects heart rate and pressure. Then I take the Zertec. Boom! Sudden blood pressure and heart rate jump.
problem is that often, if this happens, the clock gets reset, and it stays that way.