Apple watch series highly anticipated heart monitoring feature go live

One of the most anticipated features of Apple Watch Series 4 launched in September this year is the ability of the watch to capture mobile electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) at the touch of the button. The feature was made available to consumers in the US today via a software update.

The new feature is a big step towards company’s venture of linking apple with healthcare. The apple watch ECG is a simple, single-lead ECG, as opposed to the standard 12 lead ECG usually administered in a hospital or clinic settings.

Apple ECG will not document most heart rhythm abnormalities, electrical changes associated with heart attack or heart failure. Apple ECG would detect irregular heartbeats or quivering– atrial fibrillation or a-fib as it is commonly known.

A-fib is a serious condition and according to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 6.1 million Americans are living with a-fib. It can cause stroke, blood clots or cardiac failure. It is also difficult to diagnose because the rhythm often becomes regular as the patient reaches the physician’s office for an ECG. 

If you are wearing apple watch, it can immediately register the irregular heartbeat and diagnose atrial fibrillation.

While recording ECG, you must be sitting or standing still and able to hold the hand in place for 30 seconds. ECG cannot be recorded if you are running or doing any stressful physical activity.

As soon as you open the watch, touch the ‘digital crown’ with your free hand to complete the electrical circuit. The heart rhythm strips appear immediately on the screen, and your iPhone alerts you that your ECG is ready to review.

A description of your ECG is also seen on the screen so that people can understand the heart rate and associated abnormalities. The user can directly upload the ECG along with the description provided to his family physician or cardiologist.

FDA clears the new apple ECG feature, but it has not approved it. The FDA also made it clear that the app is only for people 22 years and older.

“We have tens of millions of watches on people’s wrists, and we have hundreds of millions of phones in people’s pockets,” says Apple’s chief operating officer Jeff Williams, who oversees the company’s health projects. “There’s a huge opportunity to empower people with more information about their health. So this is something we view as not only an opportunity but a responsibility of ours.”

Critics fear that the ability of millions of people to get their on-demand ECG at the touch of a button will clog the ER and result in many unnecessary tests.

Apple responds that no medical test is 100% accurate, so some false positives are inevitable. However, much thoughts have gone into making the app user-friendly and not anxiety provoking, and it will prompt the user to act at a crucial time.