Hypertension is one of the most prevalent, hard-to-detect, and fatal ailments globally. This latest feature is quite intriguing.
The hypertension alerts on the Apple Watch Series 11 and Ultra 3 represent the most widespread “killer feature” I’ve encountered in smartwatches for years. While it doesn’t directly monitor blood pressure, this makes Apple’s new system even more enticing — and competing brands will undoubtedly rush to replicate it.
Consumers in Europe or Asia can access smartwatch-enabled blood pressure tracking with a Huawei Watch D2 or Galaxy Watch 8 (along with a cuff). However, unless you are conscious of ongoing high blood pressure problems, you might not utilize this feature frequently. Moreover, a smartwatch cannot replace a medical-grade blood pressure monitor.
I won’t undervalue the practicality of accessible, on-the-go smartwatch blood pressure checks for anyone reluctant to visit a physician. Nonetheless, as Samsung has never received FDA certification — and multiple clinical trials with Galaxy Watches indicated “insufficient accuracy” and “significant pre-post calibration BP discrepancies” — I wouldn’t recommend it to at-risk relatives, even if given the chance.
Additionally, Samsung has a newer, indirect approach to predicting hypertension — its Vascular Load metric — but it’s not as simple as Apple’s technique, which is set to launch in “over 150 countries and regions,” including the U.S. and EU this month, and will receive FDA clearance “soon.”
Once this occurs, I foresee the Apple Watch Series 11 becoming even more sought after than previous versions. Individuals in an at-risk age category or from families prone to chronic high blood pressure will seek these early warning indicators.
Apple identified a depressingly prevalent condition to predict.
The CDC indicates that 119.9 million American adults, or 48.1%, are afflicted by hypertension, while merely 27 million have it “under control.” 34 million Americans with hypertension have not begun taking or filling their prescriptions. Additionally, “1 in 5 adults with high blood pressure is unaware and would not self-report it.”
Hypertension was a “primary or contributing factor in 664,470 deaths” in the United States in 2023, mainly due to heart attack, heart failure, or stroke. Globally, the WHO estimates that 1.28 billion individuals have hypertension, with only 42% “diagnosed and treated.”
These statistics are telling. Chronic high blood pressure is alarmingly common, with affected individuals either unaware or unwilling to seek treatment, often due to financial constraints or the belief that they don’t need to be concerned.
For conditions such as sleep apnea or AFib, a smartwatch alert is clearly beneficial, but these ailments at least exhibit physical symptoms detectable by the individual. With hypertension, Apple accurately states in its press release that it “often has no symptoms” and “can be easily overlooked” if readings are only taken once a year during a doctor’s visit.
Apple utilized “training data from various studies totaling over 100,000 participants,” aligned with a “clinical study involving over 2,000 participants,” to develop its machine learning algorithm. This will then assess 30 days of optical heart rate data against its own data to identify any warning signals.
Apple anticipates that out of the millions of users with an Apple Watch S9, S10, S11, Ultra 2, or Ultra 3, it will detect signs of hypertension in a million users “within the first year.”
This prediction may indeed be exaggerated, and I’ll be skeptical if the FDA takes time to approve the feature. Nonetheless, I genuinely hope this becomes a widely used tool, raising awareness for a pervasive and serious condition. Regardless of your preferred smartwatch brand, this is a positive development.
Android and fitness watches possess their own life-saving capabilities.
Anyone who wears a Galaxy Watch 8, Watch 8 Classic, or Watch Ultra continuously will receive Samsung’s Vascular Load data, which correlates with your sleep data and “measures blood volume and vascular stiffness while accurately analyzing changes in stress on blood vessels.”
Arterial stiffness is a possible indicator of hypertension, alongside various heart conditions. However, Samsung’s Vascular Load graph primarily emphasizes how lifestyle decisions like sodium consumption or alcohol intake create short-term cardiac stress, and while that’s valid, it also places the responsibility on the user to achieve better scores when the actual cause could be hereditary. Furthermore, it concentrates on sleep-related strain rather than daytime stress.
I believe Samsung might introduce something more specifically aimed at hypertension in the future, based on the data it gathers now, and it should. Hopefully, other Android smartwatch manufacturers will eventually follow suit.
Regarding other life-saving smartwatch features, the most evident one is Google’s Loss of Pulse detection, which alerts emergency services during cardiac arrest or other significant heart complications. When no one is present to report it, this feature could be life-saving, though it should clearly be a last resort for those with ongoing health issues.
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