Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

ronjor · Mar 16, 2019

Manas Mishra March 16, 2019

(Reuters) - The Apple Watch was able to detect irregular heart pulse rates that could signal the need for further monitoring for a serious heart rhythm problem, according to data from a large study funded by Apple Inc (AAPL.O), demonstrating a potential future role for wearable consumer technology in healthcare.
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guest · Dec 28, 2019

NYU doctor sues Apple over Apple Watch’s ability to detect atrial fibrillation
December 28, 2019
https://9to5mac.com/2019/12/28/apple-watch-afib-lawsuit/

Apple Watch’s ability to detect atrial fibrillation has proven to be life-saving for many users, but a New York University doctor is now suing Apple over the feature. As reported by Bloomberg, Dr. Joseph Wiesel claims that Apple Watch infringes on his patent for a method to detect an irregular heartbeat.

Apple Watch can passively monitor a heart rate and provide notifications when an irregular heart beat is detected. This is a common sign of atrial fibrillation, and newer Apple Watch models also support the ability to take an electrocardiogram using the Digital Crown.
In the lawsuit, Wiesel says that his patent marked the “pioneering steps” in monitoring for atrial fibrillation detection.

Wiesel, who currently teaches at the NYU School of Medicine, also says that he reached out to Apple in September of 2017 about a partnership, but Apple didn’t entertain his requests: [...]
With this lawsuit, Wiesel is asking the court to block Apple from using his patented atrial fibrillation technology without permission and royalties. For its part, Apple hasn’t commented on the case and it’s unlikely that it will.
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reasonablePrivacy · Jan 1, 2020

There is an article by Christopher Labos on Science-Based Medicine website called The Apple Heart Study. I suggest to find it and read it.

Christopher Labos said:

But its positive predictive value (PPV) is somewhat low. Of the 10,980 patients where the Apple Watch alerted its users to an abnormal rhythm, only 990 had a.fib in our example and the rest were false positives. Its PPV is actually 990 ÷ 10,980 = 9.01%. In other words, when detected a.fib we were only right 9% of the time.

Again, this was theoretical example to illustrate a point.
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Christopher Labos said:

The other problem is that it’s not clear what to do with short episodes of atrial fibrillation in young people. Even if you do make a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, you wouldn’t necessarily give someone blood thinners if they were young and had no other risk factors.
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guest · Feb 15, 2020

Oklahoma mom credits Apple Watch with detecting SVT heart rhythm in her 13 year-old son
February 15, 2020
https://9to5mac.com/2020/02/15/apple-watch-svt-oklahoma/

An Oklahoma mom is crediting the Apple Watch with alerting her to her middle school aged son’s abnormally high heart rate. 13-year-old Skylar Joslin was sitting in class when his Apple Watch detected a heart of 190 beats-per-minute.
Local news outlet KFOR tells the story:

[...] “I got a text message along with a screenshot of his heart rate that was 190,” said Skylar’s mom Liz. “The following message saying, ‘Mommy, there’s something wrong. I’m not doing anything.'”
Doctors then diagnosed Skylar with supraventricular tachycardia, or SVT, which is a disease that forces the heart to speed up.

“If I wouldn’t have gotten his Apple Watch, I don’t know that I would’ve ever known. I mean it’s unknown how long it would’ve been going on or how long it would’ve really taken,” Liz said.
Skylar will be the face of the Oklahoma American Heart Association Heart Walk on April 25, as well.
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guest · Sep 30, 2021

Apple Watch flags multiple types of irregular heartbeats, study shows
Cardiologists are still unsure of the best way to handle alerts that aren’t atrial fibrillation
September 30, 2021
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/30/22702151/apple-watch-heartbeat-irregular-pulse-afib

People who get irregular pulse notifications on an Apple Watch but don’t have atrial fibrillation — the condition the feature focuses on detecting — could still have another type of problem with their heartbeat, according to a new study.

The findings show that even if someone with a concerning alert from their Apple Watch doesn’t get an atrial fibrillation diagnosis, they may not be in the clear, says study author Marco Perez, the director of the Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at Stanford University Medical Center.

“Even if you didn’t find atrial fibrillation, we were finding a lot of people who had something else that probably needed some clinical attention,” he says.
The analysis, published in the journal Circulation, was done using data from the Apple Heart Study, which was designed to test the Apple Watch’s ability to detect irregular heart rhythms. It launched in 2017 and included over 400,000 participants.
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