The Apple Watch has become a device capable of obtaining relevant information in many aspects of a user's life. Thanks to the data and metrics that are collected, situations or pathologies such as atrial fibrillation can be predicted thanks to irregular rhythms in the heart rate. Or fall detection using gyroscope and accelerometer measurements. With the arrival of the oximeter to the Apple Watch Series 6, Apple launches to study asthma, heart failure and premature diagnosis of COVID-19 with three new research studies.
Apple Watch Series 6 to study asthma, heart failure and COVID-19
El Apple Watch Series 6 brings with it an oximeter. This makes use of infrared sensors placed on the part that is in contact with the skin of the wrist. In this way, the device emits and receives light from the blood vessels, achieving calculate oxygen saturation in blood. This value is essential for cardiac and pulmonary pathologies, since it is related to the amount of oxygen that our blood hemoglobin has at a given moment.
At last week's "Time Flies" presentation, the Vice President of Health Sumbul Ahmad Desai presented the three new lines of research in Apple health. These new lines arise from the incorporation of a pulse oximeter in the new Apple Watch. These new data, together with the metrics that it already collected with the rest of the sensors, will provide key information to study pathologies such as asthma or COVID-19.
Blood oxygen and pulse oximetry have been very common in the pandemic (due to COVID-19). When you breathe, the heart and lungs distribute oxygen throughout the body. Oxygen saturation is a sign of the proper functioning of this system and of respiratory and heart health.
The first study will deal with how to better control asthma using the physiological signals of the Apple Watch. To do this, they will have the help of expert pulmonologists from the University of California at Irvine and Anthe. The second study will analyze how blood oxygen indicators can be used to treat heart failure. To do this, they will have the help of the heart reference center in North America: University Health Network. In addition to having researchers from the University of Toronto.
Finally, the third and final new research study will deal with the relationship between COVID-19 and the flu. This study will be carried out in collaboration with the Seattle Flu Study and faculty from the University of Washington School of Medicine. This study will be able to address the initial symptoms of these respiratory diseases.