by coronary artery blockage-related heart muscle injury.
Shortness of breath and weariness are a few signs and symptoms of heart failure, along with the following:
- Coughing and swollen legs and abdomen
- Gaining weight
- Nausea
- Chest ache
- Rapid heart rate
This type of heart failure can also show no symptoms at all.
The researchers discovered that the Apple Watch is just as effective as a 12-lead ECG that your doctor might perform in their office, according to Dr. Annabelle Santos Volgman, Professor of Medicine and Senior Attending Physician at Rush Medical College and Rush University Medical Center.
According to Volgman, she has been taking care of her patients using the Apple Watch for several years.
“We are able to record the patient’s rhythm when they experience palpitations as a symptom. When we don’t notice any arrhythmias, I can tell them that it’s not a concerning issue,” she says.
When issues do arise, she claims that she might then go to the next stage of assessing their risk and determining what to do about their symptoms.
The Apple Watch can measure heart rate, oxygen saturation, step counts, frequency of standing, calories burned, and sleep patterns in addition to completing a single-lead ECG, all of which can provide helpful data for patient management.
Dr. Paul Friedman, the study’s lead author, says it is “absolutely astounding that AI transforms a consumer watch ECG data into a detector of this illness” and that we may now be able to add the diagnosis of a weak heart to the list.
With an app and their Apple Watch, people may be able to screen for and monitor heart failure in the comfort of their own homes in the future.
This holds the potential for broader access to care as well as a significant decrease in the cost of some diagnostic testing and research studies.
However, this study is still in its early phases and must be evaluated and validated before it is made accessible to patients.