Apple’s Smartwatch Can Provide Health Data on Par with Hospital Equipment

What Happened?

A recent study by the National Library of Medicine compared the health monitoring accuracy of Apple’s Smartwatch to equipment used in modern hospitals. The study measured data from patients with diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, and showed a very strong correlation with professional equipment when measuring heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

The study also found that the health measurements obtained from Apple’s Smartwatch stayed consistent with subjects who were performing light, moderate, and intense exercise.

Why it Matters

For chronic illnesses and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, early detection can often be the key to effective treatment. Patients who suffer from those kinds of chronic ailments often exhibit measurable changes in their blood pressure, heart rate, and other health metrics with a worsening condition or potential life threatening situation. Those changes can show up hours or days before the situation goes critical.

But for most people, constant monitoring of their vital statistics is not practical because they can’t stay in a hospital setting all the time. Every year emergency room visits that could have been prevented cost billions of dollars because there was no way to constantly track health information for those who need monitoring. Had those individuals been able to wear a device to track their vitals and relay that information to their doctors, early detection would likely have saved billions of dollars and thousands of lives.

The recent study by the National Library of Medicine found that the Apple Smartwatch is a reliable piece of technology to measure patients heart rate and blood oxygen levels. The findings open the door to a future where patients with chronic health problems could receive constant monitoring through wearable tech like the Apple Smartwatch. 

In addition, even people without long-term illnesses or conditions could benefit from sustained monitoring of their vitals. Significant events like heart attacks often present subtle but measurable changes in vitals days before onset. With the right wearable technology transmitting information to the right medical provider, life threatening events could be identified and prevented through early detection.

Apple has already taken the initial steps towards creating a way to systematically track and assess the health data of large numbers of people. Its health app can track medication use, health information such as vital statistics and even mood changes. Taken together such information could give doctors and the health care system in general a new way to diagnose and treat patients of all ages.

How it Affects You

Apple’s Smartwatch already contains a number of health care applications which can be accessed for free by those who purchase one. In addition to the potential for giving health care providers more data to work with in diagnosing and treating patients, those same applications can help ordinary individuals track their fitness and health stats with more accuracy.