Apple Watch may soon help cardiologists discover heart conditions

Smart watches can become the second cardiologist for users in the near future. After a series of studies, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, discovered that the Apple Watch device, combined with an application from Cardiogram Inc., could detect users with heart disease. or not, as well as following their sleep and exercise regimes.

Research using the step counter and heart rate sensor built into the Apple Watch to track data on heart disease is called atrial fibrillation. It is a type of abnormal heart rhythm condition that can lead to blood clots and strokes

Data collected from the 6,680 Apple Watch owners, including 50 people with atrial fibrillation, have been accessed through an application from Cardiogram Inc. - sponsored by a company for founding research. The information is then further analyzed by the machine learning system and eventually the results give some interesting conclusions.

First, the Apple Watch atrial fibrillation device operates with 97% accuracy when users are sedentary.

In the case of people moving or just doing regular daily tasks, the detection rate has dropped to 72%. The serious difference is that when your physical activity is high, your heart rate increases, which makes Apple Watch monitor your heart rate less throughout the day.

Atrial fibrillation affects more than 2.7 million Americans and a total of 34 million people worldwide. Some people may not know they have atrial fibrillation, because of symptoms, including chest pain, irregular heartbeat, fatigue during exercise, and shortness of breath may not be recognized by patients. It is very dangerous, if unable to be treated, atrial fibrillation can lead to serious complications.

This research is part of the eHealth Heart project. It started back in 2013 and aims to prevent heart disease by using the power of mobile technology. So far, the project has more than 160,000 participants but is expected to reach 1 million by the end of this year.