According to the University of Utah Health and the University of Pennsylvania, while the US Food and Drug Administration gave its approval to use the Apple Watch’s hypertension feature last year, researchers explained it should not be used in place of proper medical testing, reports Unilad.
In an article by the Journal of the American Medical Association, experts say they found discrepancies in who would be alerted through the high blood pressure feature.
From the article: In a validation study comparing the notification feature to home BP [blood pressure] monitoring over 30 days,41.2% of individuals with undiagnosed hypertension received an alert for potentially having hypertension and 58.8% did not, whereas among those without hypertension, 92.3% did not receive an alert and 7.7% received an inappropriate alert. These test performance metrics translate to a positive likelihood ratio of 5.35, indicating moderate evidence to rule in hypertension, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.64, indicating weak evidence to rule out hypertension. We characterized the potential impact of this notification feature on hypertension screening among US adults without diagnosed hypertension.
However, Apple has said that its hypertension notifications feature’ isn’t “intended to diagnose, treat or aid in the management of hypertension or other conditions such as blood clots, stroke, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure or high cholesterol.” Unilad notes that this is because it can’t detect a heart attack, though it can notify a user about a pattern of chronic high blood pressure symptoms via its heart sensor and 30-day evaluation.
“Apple indicates that the feature is not intended to diagnose hypertension and is designed to prompt users to seek clinical evaluation if hypertension is suspected,” the University of Utah Health and the University of Pennsylvania team said. “However, false reassurance may discourage some individuals with undiagnosed hypertension from obtaining appropriate screening or engaging with the healthcare system, resulting in missed opportunities for early detection and treatment.”
I hope you’ll help support Apple World Today by becoming a patron. Almost all our income is from Patreon support and sponsored posts. Patreon pricing ranges from $2 to $10 a month. Thanks in advance for your support.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
