A new study from the University
of California , San Francisco and a health startup suggests
that Apple Watch and Fitbit can accurately diagnose common health issues such
as hypertension and sleep apnea.
The study published by the startup, Cardiogram, and UCSF Health
Lab said hypertension and sleep apnea were diagnosed on wearables with 82
percent and 90 percent accuracy, respectively. Those rates are slightly lower
than the rate for abnormal heart rhythm, which Cardiogram and UCSF diagnosed
with 97 percent accuracy in a previous study from May.
Cardiogram - which is not affiliated with Apple or Fitbit - and
UCSF determined accuracy levels by using artificial intelligence to
pick up abnormal patterns in heart rate.
The study was conducted with more than 6,000 subjects, 37 percent
and 17 percent who had hypertension and sleep apnea, respectively. The study
will be subjected to months of peer-reviewed clinical research to validate the
findings. Cardiogram says it plans to expand its studies into diagnosing
pre-diabetes and diabetes.
"What if we could transform wearables people already own -
Apple Watches, Android Wears, Garmins, and Fitbits - into inexpensive, everyday
screening tools using artificial intelligence?" wrote Cardiogram
co-founder Brandon Ballinger in a Medium post.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, and sleep apnea, in which breathing
repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, affect millions of Americans - most
of whom do not know they have either disorders. More than 80 percent of
Americans with sleep apnea are undiagnosed, according to the American Sleep
Apnea Association.
More than 18 million Americans are estimated to have sleep apnea,
but those with hypertension are far more prevalent. More than 75 million
Americans - or 29 percent - have hypertension, according to the Center for
Disease Control.
Hypertension and sleep apnea cost the United
States $46 billion and $150 billion, respectively, in
direct medical spending, lost productivity, and accidents, according to two
separate studies by the CDC and American
Academy of Sleep
Medicine.
Apple and Fitbit have been actively looking into expanding their
medical research into abnormal heart rhythm, hypertension and
sleep apnea. Apple partnered with Stanford School of Medicine to study how
Apple Watch can detect abnormal heart rhythm in its proprietary Health apps.
"One of the things that we've learned that we've been really
surprised and delighted about is this device ... has essentially alerted people
through the collection of the data that they have a problem," said AppleCEO Tim Cook in an interview with Fortune in August. "And that spurred
them to go to the doctor and say, 'Look at my heart rate data.
Is something wrong?' And a not-insignificant number have found out if they
hadn't come into the doctor they would have died."
Fitbit for months has said it is focusing on sleep apnea. The
company's new smartwatch, Ionic, has a new optical sensor to better collect
data to diagnose sleep apnea.
In an interview with The Verge on Fitbit's sleep apnea efforts in August, Fitbit CEO James
Park said the company will need to do many clinical trials to get its
technology approval for future diagnoses.
"Diagnostics is a tricky term," said Park. "But
definitely over time we hope to progress from screening in conjunction with a
medical professional, to more diagnostics or treatment."
In September, both Apple and Fitbit were selected by the Food and
Drug Administration to participate in a trial program allowing the companies to
skip certain regulations to expedite innovation.
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