Apple Watch might detect weak heart pump with a new Mayo Clinic algorithm

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The Apple Watch comes preloaded with sensors that help users manage heart disease. The wearable monitors heart rate and can detect atrial fibrillation.

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That’s a serious condition leading to severe side effects like stroke and heart failure. Furthermore, specific Apple Watch versions let users take ECGs at home or in any other setting.

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But a new study from the Mayo Clinic shows that the Apple Watch might be able to do a lot more with the correct algorithm. Researchers used the Apple Watch ECG feature to detect weak heart pump, which happens in heart failure.

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According to the Mayo Clinic, patients wearing an Apple Watch enrolled by email in its decentralized, prospective study. They downloaded an app on the iPhones. The handset took ECG readings from the Apple Watch and sent them securely to the scientists.

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Over 2,450 patients enrolled in the study. They transmitted 125,610 ECG readings from 46 states and 11 countries over the course of a six-month study period.

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Patients took an average of two readings a month, with 92% of them using the app more than once. Each participant recorded many ECGs, with researchers choosing the cleanest readings.

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The Mayo Clinic came up a few years ago with an algorithm to interpret a regular 12-lead ECG and search for early signs of a weak heart pump. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) awarded the 12-lead ECG algorithm breakthrough device designation. It received emergency use authorization for COVID-19 in 2020.

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The study participants used at least an Apple Watch Series 4 and paired to an iPhone to take part in the study. Only Apple Watch models that can record ECG would qualify users for the Mayo Clinic study. The Apple Watch saves the readings in the Health app on iPhone. It can then share them with the app the researchers developed.

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