With the ECG feature now available in the Apple Watch, you'll have an early warning system for your heart condition
HEART failure is the number one cause of death globally, claiming an estimated 17.9 million lives each year, according to the World Health Organisation.
At age 50 now, I'm always worried about this silent killer, and will try my best to look after my health in every way I can to prevent heart failure from happening.
Recently, Apple released the electrocardiogram (ECG) feature on its Apple Watch for Malaysian users, after it received the regulatory approval from the Medical Device Authority (MDA) in Malaysia as a Class B software medical device.
I see this as a great development for health management, especially for heart health.
Technically, this ECG feature allows Apple Watch users to take a reading right from their wrist, and get immediate results if there is a sign of atrial fibrillation, or AFib.
If you're unsure about what AFib is, it is the most common form of irregular heart rhythm. If left untreated, AFib can lead to stroke.
USING THE FEATURE
Before you can use the ECG feature on your Apple Watch, you must ensure that you are using the Apple Watch Series 4, 5, and 6 as these are the models that support the ECG, and that you have to update your iPhone and Apple Watch to iOS 14.6 and watchOS 7.5 respectively.
After you've done with the software updates, it's time to check your ECG readings. You have to select the ECG app on your Apple Watch. Once you've tapped on it, you'll be prompted to place your index finger on the Digital Crown on the watch for 30 seconds.
This process must be done without any movement, so it's best that you place your arm on a stable platform like a table.
Once the 30-second period is over, you'll see the result in the Health app on your iPhone. The result will say if there's a sign of AFib or not.
The ECG app works by using the electrical heart sensor built into the Digital Crown and the back crystal of Apple Watch Series 4 or later.
It then provides a result of sinus rhythm, atrial fibrillation, atrial fibrillation with high heart rate, or poor recording, and prompts the user to enter any symptoms, such as rapid or pounding heartbeat, dizziness or fatigue. The waveform, results, date, time and other symptoms are recorded and can be exported from the Health app as a PDF to share with your doctor.
UNDERSTANDING THE ECG APP FINDINGS
Apple vice-president of Health, Dr Sumbul Desai, is 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, users will be able to better understand aspects of their heart health in a more meaningful way," she says.
Dr Desai says the ECG app waveform is similar to a Lead 1 ECG, which can enable classification of atrial fibrillation and sinus rhythm. However, she stressed that it cannot identify other conditions, like heart attack.
She says the intended use of the ECG feature is really to provide users with more information so they can have a more informed conversation with their doctor.
"However, the feature is not designed to diagnose. Firstly, it's designed to just be informational. Secondly, Apple has put a lot of work into the validation and accuracy of our features. So we did a lot of work that is grounded in science to make sure that the results are accurate and classified accurately. We feel really proud of the work that we did to make sure that our users will have a good result that's grounded in science," she explains.
"The availability of the ECG feature is also an opportunity for users to learn more about heart health and understand what atrial fibrillation is, and how it can be really helpful to understand what is going on with your heart," she adds.
Dr Desai explains that when you do ECG the traditional way, you put 12 leads on your chest and that measures a 12-lead ECG, and it gives a three-dimensional picture of your heart.
"However, we're doing just a single lead of the ECG, not a three-dimensional view of your heart. So we're able to pick up AFib because that's one of the conditions that you can pick up with the single lead ECG," she says.
CONCLUSION
The ability of the ECG app on iPhone to check for AFib is a great development in the health technology space. Although it's only a Lead 1 ECG, it's enough to give a quick reading of AFib, which may come in handy for many people.
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