Australia’s medical regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved the Apple Watch’s hypertension notification feature, which detects signs of high blood pressure, for use in Australia, reports Information Age.
The feature, which was announced in September and has been available in more than 150 countries for months, was listed as a medical device on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) on Thursday, December 4.
Apple did not respond to the Information Age’s request for comment on when the feature would become available for use by Australian Apple Watch users. However, similar health features have previously been enabled by later software updates or direct activation by Apple.
The feature can alert users if signs of chronic high blood pressure — or hypertension — are detected. Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease, and impacts approximately 1.3 billion adults globally. It’s frequently undiagnosed because it often has no symptoms, many people do not see a doctor regularly, and even during a clinical visit, it can be easily missed with a single measurement.
Hypertension notifications on Apple Watch use data from the optical heart sensor to analyze how a user’s blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart. The algorithm works passively in the background reviewing data over 30-day periods, and will notify users if it detects consistent signs of hypertension.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
