A new study has just focused on the heart monitoring capabilities of the Apple brand. According to researchers at the University of Texas,the connected watchcould detect symptoms of a myocardial infarction (more commonly called a heart attack). Today, one in two people carrying out this attack die within an hour, before being able to be treated by emergency services.
But according to this study, a heart attack doesn't happen all at once. There are different symptoms, more or less visible, which can appear before the patient has a myocardial infarction. With high-precision daily monitoring as offered by the Apple Watch, researchers at the Texas Health Institute tried to find out if the Apple Watch could be useful in detecting these symptoms.
The Apple Watch: an (almost) medical tool
The scientists' verdict is clear, the Apple Watch can be a valuable asset in the minutes following a heart attack. Indeed, the symptoms are clearly visible onApple ECG resultsand the watch can indicate to its user that he must go to an emergency hospital in order to receive treatment.
Today the only way to be certain that a person is suffering from a myocardial infarction is to perform a 12-lead ECG, which requires professional expertise and equipment. But this new study explains that the results from Apple's connected watch are sufficient to validate a diagnosis.
Hospitals still have a (small) head start
If for the moment the medical world does not recognizel’Apple Watchlike a device capable of detecting heart attacks, the ECG calculation system is very efficient on Apple's connected watches and it improves over time. The researchers showed in their study that the results were more accurate with an Apple Watch Series 7 than with a Series 4.
If we are still far from the results available in hospitals with professional equipment, the progress of Apple's watch sensors is quite encouraging for the years to come.
