- [Dr Morales] Thank you for visiting this video segment
for Dr AFib, I'm doctor Morales.
In today's video segment we're gonna be talking about
the Apple Watch.
More specifically the Apple Watch Series Four.
Which has got a lot of news the last few months.
Apple made a big splash in September 2018,
when they announced that the latest generation
of the Apple Watch is gonna be able to detect,
atrial fibrillation.
And so that announcement came in September 2018,
and then in December 2018, they actually came out
with all the software updates needed in order to be
able to (background noise) atrial fibrillation.
So, soon after all the software updates came out,
there was all, out, big splashy news articles
of Apple Watch saves man and helps detect
health threatening arythmias.
And so a lot of good press regarding the Apple Watch.
But what does it actually do, and how well does it,
is it reportedly to work?
So on the Apple Watch, series four,
has a sensor underneath the watch,
which is used for not only checking your heart rate,
but also the irregularity and potentially
detecting your atrial fibrillation.
Also with the crown, you have to
put your finger on the crown there,
and then it could help get a single lead EKG.
Which can help detect atrial fibrillation
over a period of 30 second analysis.
Now the watch itself has several read results.
If you put, try to do an EKG result on the Apple Watch,
It'll either say that you're in normal rhythm,
it can say you're in atrial fibrillation.
You can get a notification heart rate is too low,
too high or inconclusive.
Which means it doesn't fall into any of those categories
that have been preset on the Apple Watch.
Apple does have several pointers on its website about
how to get optimal results.
And having managed patients with similar types of
wearable technology,
listening to these and biding by these press practices
can really help you get the best results that you
can get the best information as well as potentially
transmit that over to your doctor's office.
So some of the best results to get good EKG recorders
are make sure the the watch is nice
and snug onto your skin.
It needs to really be pressing onto your skin well
in order to get an accurate EKG reading.
In addition, make sure there is no water
on your wrist, if you had just washed your hand.
Make sure everything is dry
and has good contact between them.
Also very important part when you're wearing a watch,
at the get an EKG analysis is to actually rest your arm.
If you're holding your arm just like this in the air.
Your arm is actually moving very steadily,
and it can actually cause inconclusive readings.
So rest it on a table, or a desk,
or something that makes it nice and still,
when you're getting the EKG analylis.
Now, what is this Apple Watch not do?
So, it's mostly a heart rate tracker,
and through the irregularity of the heart beat,
as well as to that single lead EKG,
it's able to detect atrial fibrillation.
However it does not detect a heart attack.
It does not detect a stroke.
It does not detect high blood pressure.
It does not detect other heart conditions,
such as congestive heart failure,
or it may not tell you, other heart conditions.
What I do find the most interesting about this Apple Watch,
is it's alerts that system that it has.
So it has spontaneous alerts, which is something
very new, that can alert somebody if they are having
an episode, or potentially having
episodes of atrial fibrillation.
And these are alerts that you can setup on,
your watch for either low heart rate,
high heart rate, or even irregular heart rate.
And so the watch itself isn't constantly looking
for atrial fibrillation.
But if it does sense an irregular heart beat,
it can alert you and encourage you to do a proper EKG,
which is when you put your finger on the watch,
and initiate the EKG yourself.
So the alerting system may not necessarily detect Afib,
but it may detect an irregular heart rhythm which then
can initiate yourself to be able to do a transmission,
or record an EKG through your watch.
So, how well does it work?
Apple reports that in a study that it did with
600 people that it had a 98 percent sensitivity
for detecting atrial fibrillation.
Which is pretty good, and the fact that it was
FDA cleared and got some FDA cleared notification.
Tells me that this Apple Watch, will likely be
more accurate than not in order to be able to
detect atrial fibrillation.
For those of you who have older generations
of Apple Watch, only the Apple Watch Series Four,
is able to do the EKG on the actual watch,
as well detect atrial fibrillation.
But for those of you who have older generations
of Apple Watches, there are accessories that are available,
which can do similar thing and also detec--
do an EKG and detect atrial fibrillation.
There's an accessory called a Cardioband,
which has been around for several years,
which I think is an excellent accessory.
Especially if you have an older generation Apple Watch.
I have a blog article on my website,
called "The Dr Afib review of the Kardioa Mobile,
the Cardioband" which describes that accessory
a little bit more detail.
So what do I think about the Apple Watch?
Well I'm excited about it.
I think that this is something that has a lot of potential.
Do I expect it to be 100 percent accurate all the time?
No, I think there will maybe some false positives out there.
But I think over time it will get better and better.
From a cardiologist's standpoint, if you research
what does the cardiologist think about the apple watch,
I actually feel that a lot of my colleagues are very
negative about the Apple Watch, a lot, there's a lot
of skepticism out there, they think that it's going
to lead to a lot of false positives.
A lot of anxiety about people's atrial fibrillation.
But I view it in the other way,
I think that it's going to be very beneficial
for a lot of patients, I think it helps patients
to be able to get more control of their own data.
And then, be able to get more accurate recordings
which can then be transmitted over to their doctor.
So I think it's good to have patients that have
more control over their own healthcare,
and their own healthcare data.
So I look forward to seeing where things go
with the Apple Watch.
See how it gets better over time.
And if you have an Apple Watch, if you're listening to this,
and you have the new Apple Watch and
you've used it for your atrial fibrillation,
please put a comment into this video.
And let other people know how well it works for you,
or does not work for you.
'Cause it may benefit other people.
Thank you for visiting this video segment for
Dr Afib, I'll see ya next time.