Apple's 419,093 participants in its cardiac health study with Stanford had over 2000 seeki...
The data gleaned from Apple's cardiac health study in conjunction with Stanford has been disclosed, with doctors in attendance positive not just about the study as a whole, but also about the Apple Watch as an additional source of information to diagnose a problem.
In a presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual conference on Saturday, more light was shed on Apple's cardiac health study with the Apple Watch. Stanford Medicine researchers presented their findings, with study results showing that 0.5 percent of the over 419,093 participants received an irregular heart rhythm notification
According to Apple, as well as the doctors giving the presentation at the American College of Cardiology's 68th annual event, many participants sought medical advice following their irregular rhythm notification, using the information as an additional data point for doctors to use in assessing any underlying condition.
"As physicians, we are always trying to find ways to offer patients health information that is meaningful to them for individualized care," said Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple's vice president of Health. "Seeing medical research reflect what we're hearing from consumers is positive and we're excited to see Apple Watch helping even more consumers in the future while collaborating with the medical community to further research."
The study was originally announced during the Apple Watch Series 3 release event. At the time, Apple noted that it was working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the process.
"Through the Apple Heart Study, Stanford Medicine faculty will explore how technology like Apple Watch's heart rate sensor can help usher in a new era of proactive health care central to our Precision Health approach," Lloyd Minor, Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine said when the study launched. "We're excited to work with Apple on this breakthrough heart study."
To calculate heart rate and rhythm, the Apple Watch uses green LEDs coupled with light-sensitive photodiodes to detect the amount of blood flowing through the wrist. The sensor collects signals from four points on the wrist, and uses the data to identify an irregular heart rhythm. During the test, If an irregular heart rhythm was identified by the sensors, study participants received a notification on their Apple Watch and iPhone, a free consultation with a study doctor, and an electrocardiogram peripheral for additional monitoring.
Enrollment in the study closed on August 2, 2018. The American Heart Journal previously declared that the study's 419,093 participants made it the largest one of its kind in history.
Data collection for the study concluded in January 2019.
Since the study's launch, Apple has ramped up its positioning of the Apple Watch as a health accessory, most notably with the electrocardiogram (ECG) feature in the Apple Watch Series 4. Using the app and special sensors in the base and crown, the Series 4 can act as a single-lead ECG reader.
In a presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual conference on Saturday, more light was shed on Apple's cardiac health study with the Apple Watch. Stanford Medicine researchers presented their findings, with study results showing that 0.5 percent of the over 419,093 participants received an irregular heart rhythm notification
According to Apple, as well as the doctors giving the presentation at the American College of Cardiology's 68th annual event, many participants sought medical advice following their irregular rhythm notification, using the information as an additional data point for doctors to use in assessing any underlying condition.
"As physicians, we are always trying to find ways to offer patients health information that is meaningful to them for individualized care," said Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple's vice president of Health. "Seeing medical research reflect what we're hearing from consumers is positive and we're excited to see Apple Watch helping even more consumers in the future while collaborating with the medical community to further research."
The study was originally announced during the Apple Watch Series 3 release event. At the time, Apple noted that it was working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the process.
"Through the Apple Heart Study, Stanford Medicine faculty will explore how technology like Apple Watch's heart rate sensor can help usher in a new era of proactive health care central to our Precision Health approach," Lloyd Minor, Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine said when the study launched. "We're excited to work with Apple on this breakthrough heart study."
To calculate heart rate and rhythm, the Apple Watch uses green LEDs coupled with light-sensitive photodiodes to detect the amount of blood flowing through the wrist. The sensor collects signals from four points on the wrist, and uses the data to identify an irregular heart rhythm. During the test, If an irregular heart rhythm was identified by the sensors, study participants received a notification on their Apple Watch and iPhone, a free consultation with a study doctor, and an electrocardiogram peripheral for additional monitoring.
Enrollment in the study closed on August 2, 2018. The American Heart Journal previously declared that the study's 419,093 participants made it the largest one of its kind in history.
Data collection for the study concluded in January 2019.
Since the study's launch, Apple has ramped up its positioning of the Apple Watch as a health accessory, most notably with the electrocardiogram (ECG) feature in the Apple Watch Series 4. Using the app and special sensors in the base and crown, the Series 4 can act as a single-lead ECG reader.
Comments
2) This is only the beginning. I look forward to what other advancements for health and safety from Apple (and other vendors) will become common in wearable CE.
I expect my experience is not exceptional.
“Researchers found that the ECG patches confirmed atrial fibrillation in only 34% of the 450 people who returned patches. The remaining two-thirds had no confirmed atrial fibrillation during the time they wore the patches—raising questions about the watch’s accuracy.
Renato Lopes, professor of at Duke University School of Medicine, said the watch has potential to detect some atrial-fibrillation cases “you would not get otherwise.” But in a panel discussion after results were presented, he said the 34% confirmation rate was “not very high.”
Dr. Perez of Stanford said episodes of atrial fibrillation can be intermittent, which could help explain why a big proportion of ECG patch wearers had no confirmed atrial fibrillation during the week they wore it.”
I think the Watch is a fabulous product, and I love mine. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: this technology at the consumer level is still in its early stages. For example, it cannot detect a-fib when the Watch is being charged.
Anyone who has read EKG monitoring strips knows how much artifact is involved. Any screening device will necessarily have a certain amount of false positives and if it doesn’t, odds are it’s missing too many cases. The fact that not all marked cases were actual cases is expected and is not an indication of ‘failure’ as you seem to imply.
As as an aside, how many common medical testing procedures are you aware of that have a 34% confirmation rate?
Useless, clickbait WSJ article on Apple. I guess I should not have been surprised.
I withdraw all of my comments above.
It’s too early to tell much - the APple watch will certainly not be a panacea, but it may well turn out to be a useful tool in the medical arsenal. One of the potential advantages is that it’s something that people already have.
Perhaps a simple example is: Fecal Occult Blood sample for early detection of colon cancer can warn of a possible problem, but must be verified by other means before any action is taken.
75% of our $3.5 Trillion dollars of annual healthcare spending goes to treat chronic diseases (heart disease, cancer, Type2 Diabetes, arthritis, etc.) that are mostly preventable or even reversible with a healthy lifestyle.
But, typically any and all research into it is dismissed as unreliable because it either doesn't pass the double blinded RCT test used for medications. Or, more often, the data is simply too subjective because they have to ask the patient to remember what they did. Quite often a questionnaire is used that asks: "What did you do last week (or for the last month or year)". And, whenever a study does overcome those weaknesses it is often dismissed because the sample size and duration are small.
The Apple Watch (and the iPhone) can change that by supplying extremely accurate, objective, quantifiable data from many people over long periods of time.
I believe the real benefit of the Apple Watch for health care won't be realized for years until those studies are designed, funded, initiated, completed and the results published in peer-reviewed medical journals. At that point, physicians will be as likely to write a prescription for an exercise physiologist as for a pill.
They'd rather we we have no false negatives because they might make us fear for our health.
Saying a device like the Apple Watch can do more harm than good because of false negatives is like saying “don’t go to the doctor because you might not have something wrong”. Don’t they want us to be healthy?
The harm is these doctors trying to hold to hold back advances that can only help us. The doctors are doing us harm whenever they prevent advancements in technology. They get paid when we go to see them whether we are healthy or not, so why do they care about false positives?
Why? Because being healthy takes money out of their pockets. They don’t want us to prevent disease because no doctor truly cares about preventing anything. They want you to pay them for treatment.
Read these articles with that in mind it will give you a new perspective of what they truly believe in.
You said: " it appears doctors would rather we have no outside measurements ".
"being healthy takes money out of their pockets. They don’t want us to prevent disease because no doctor truly cares about preventing anything. They want you to pay them for treatment."
My experience has been that most physicians DO want you to be healthy. But, few physicians are self-employed anymore. Most work for a system or are controlled by a system (in order to have "admitting priviliges" for example). And, it is those large health care operations that care only about profit rather than health. And, they drive the physician just as any company drives its own employees to generate revenue and profits.
I once asked a caring physician why they do not care about the kind of lifestyle medicine you are asking for. His response was: "Any physician who does that doesn't last very long in this town."