Your Apple Watch Can Now Detect Hypertension

Your Apple Watch can now alert you if you show signs of hypertension – a new feature eliminated by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States on September 11.

The functionality does not diagnose blood pressure or does not take blood pressure readings. Instead, it is based on the watch’s optical cardiac sensor to analyze how blood vessels contract and develop in response to the pumping of the heart. Over time, the data collected can reveal signs of hypertension and trigger an alert. Users can see a report generated by data and consult their doctor for more in -depth assessment.

The hypertension function will soon be available on all Apple Watch Series 9 models and Apple Watch Ultra 2 models – plus their new versions – in more than 150 countries.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), about half of adults have high blood pressure, and a significant proportion of them do not know that they have the condition. Only about a quarter keep their blood pressure under control. Uncontrolled hypertension can cause more pressure on blood vessels, which could weaken the heart and cause serious health problems such as stroke, heart attacks and kidney disease. Health officials have estimated in the past that these consequences on the health of hypertension cost around $ 131 billion per year.

Apple Watch’s authorization for a series of studies involving thousands of adults. In a study, more than 2,000 adults without hypertension brought the watch for 12 hours a day for almost a month and also measured their blood pressure with a blood pressure cuff every day, twice a day. The study has shown that the hypertension notification of the Apple Watch was as precise as the armband in detecting signs of high blood pressure.

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Awareness and early diagnosis can help control blood pressure before this leads to more sustainable and damaging effects on the body, explains Dr. Daniel Jones, chairman of the writing committee for the management guidelines for AHA and American College (ACC) (which was not involved in the creation of Apple Watch’s functionality). “We have long known that high blood pressure is the main cause of heart disease, stroke and a major chronic kidney disease,” he said. “And recently, there is a validation of data showing that the drop in blood pressure also reduces the risk of dementia.” This makes it crucial that even young adults “are measured by their blood pressure and know their blood pressure at least once a year with a validated device”.

People can control hypertension with food changes, such as reducing their salt consumption; losing weight; and the increase in physical activity to strengthen the heart and vessels. Medicines can also help in many cases.

Apparatus like the Apple Watch and its last feature are welcome to improve health, explains Jones, but it warns that in the case of blood pressure, these devices are not yet considered as validated means of measuring and monitoring blood pressure by AHA and ACC. This means that the information they provide should be consulted with a warning: it could be useful, but he says, people should not count as their only source of information on their blood pressure.

“Understanding whether blood pressure is normal or not normal is much more complex than detecting irregular cardiac rhythms,” he said. “I would not recommend that a patient depend on a device based on a watch for warnings on blood pressure, unless it is validated by an external [medical] organization.”

AHA and ACC directives currently recommend that healthy adults who are in good health are measured at least once a year, either in a doctor’s office or in pharmacies, with a validated device like a blood pressure armband or using an approved home kit to measure blood pressure.