Apple is concerned with the state of our heart, and rightfully so, which prompted them to come up with a new app named Apple Heart Study. The app, in turn, aims to pick up irregularities in heart rhythm to help detect potentially life-threatening conditions early enough to allow for qualified and timely medical intervention.
The app will be working in conjugation with the Apple Watch with sensors already present in the wearable helping detect irregular heartbeats. This would be achieved using green LED lights that the Watch comes with. The lights flash hundreds of time every second, which is picked up by light-sensitive photodiodes and is turn help determining the amount of blood that has flown through the wrist for a given time.
With help from other sensors on the Watch, it is able to find out if there are any irregularities in the heart beat rhythm. That above condition of the heart – that of irregular heart rhythm – again is medically referred to as atrial fibrillation or AFib and happens to be one of the principal causative factors of most heart attacks and strokes affecting more than 3 million in the US.
Meanwhile, Apple also announced it has teamed up with Stanford University to come up with a more refined app experience, leading to more accurate predictions each time. Apple hopes involving the medical professional right in the formative stages will help it devise technologies that can predict potentially fatal heart condition well in time to allow for proper treatment.
The above development comes at a time when the FDA for the first time approved the KardiaBand electrocardiogram (EKG) reader developed by AliveCor. It essentially is a sensor that slides into a slot in the Watch band and detects irregular heart rhythm and AFib. The findings will be shows on the Watch face after 30 seconds and can be shared with the doctor as well.
All of these efforts no doubt will further enhance the appeal of the Apple Watch that has already emerged among the highest selling wearable so far. With a new found focus on health monitoring, the Watch will surely find higher uptake in future.
