A controversial health feature that lets Apple smartwatch users measure their heart rate is finally available in the UK.
The feature, which was launched in the US in December, works by pressing a finger on the crown of the watch.
It has now arrived across Europe and the UK and is available to download as the ECG (electrocardiogram) app with the latest updates for the Apple Watch Series 4.
The app will also be able to check your heart's rhythm in the background and send a notification if it detects irregular heart rhythm.
Doctors have warned against the rising use of personal ECG readings as it may cause unnecessary anxiety and wasted trips to the doctor.
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Apple announced the heart feature in September last year and launched it in the US in December. It is now available in the UK. The watch can also intermittently check the wearer's heart rhythm in the background and send a notification if it detects irregular heart rhythm
The watch can intermittently check the wearer's heart rhythm in the background and send a notification if it detects irregular heart rhythm.
That can point to atrial fibrillation (afib), one of the most common forms of abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) that can increase the risk of stroke.
Around 1.3 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation but hundreds of thousands of people are thought to be living with undiagnosed AF in the UK.
The condition costs the NHS around £2.2bn ($2.9bn) each year.
Cardiologist Theodore Abraham, director of the UCSF Echocardiography Laboratory, warned of 'false positives' when speaking to Wired at the time of the feature's launch: 'Do you wind up catching a few undiagnosed cases? Sure.
'But for the vast majority of people it will have either no impact or possibly a negative impact by causing anxiety or unnecessary treatment.
'The more democratised you make something like ECG, he says, the more you increase the rate of false positives—especially among the hypochondriac set.'
Clinical trials with around 600 participants showed that the ECG app on the watch delivered an 98.3 per cent sensitivity in classifying atrial fibrillation, according to Apple.
The readings from the watch was compared to those from a gold standard ECG conducted by a cardiologist where both readings were simultaneously collected.
At the app's announcement in September 2018, Dr Sumbul Desai, Apple's vice president of Health said: 'We are confident in the ability of these features to help users have more informed conversations with their physicians.'
'With the ECG app and irregular rhythm notification feature, customers can now better understand aspects of their heart health in a more meaningful way.'
The watch can intermittently check the wearer's heart rhythm in the background and send a notification if it detects irregular heart rhythm.
In the US, where the watch was launched last December, an estimated 2.7–6.1 million have AFib, according to the CDC, and with the aging of the US population, this number is expected to increase.
When symptoms appear, Apple Watch users can now also take an EKG, or electrocardiogram, and share that with doctors.
Apple says the watch will notify users if it detects an irregular rhythm on five checks over at least 65 minutes.
Apple has been working with medical experts to perfect the feature.
'The role that technology plays in allowing patients to capture meaningful data about what's happening with their heart, right when it's happening, like the functionality of an on-demand ECG, could be significant in new clinical care models and shared decision making between people and their healthcare providers,' said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association.
However, some medical experts said the new technology should be treated cautiously.
Dr David Brown, a Washington University, St Louis cardiologist thinks that the risks of AFib in the Apple watch wearing age-group are so low that there will be a a surge in false alarms.
This is particularly the case given the monitoring is so constant. He said: 'You can imagine a 30-year-old, on a Saturday night, gets a notification from the Watch [to take an ECG], Googles it, and finds out they're at risk for a stroke,' said Dr Brown.
'They're going to end up in a clinic or ER, distracting doctors from patients in need of attention, getting unnecessary tests, and then they're told to go home because there's nothing wrong.'
Apple has also added other medical features to make the watch feel more useful to people.
A fall detection feature was also launched in September 2018.
It claims to be able to tell the difference between a trip and a fall - and when the latter occurs, it will suggest calling the emergency services.
If it receives no response within a minute, the watch will automatically place an emergency call and message friends and family designated as emergency contacts.
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