Recently, a new study by Mayo Clinic suggested that the Apple Watch can detect early signs of heart abnormalities, including left ventricular dysfunction. LVD saw with the help of the features of ECG that also works for detecting other heart abnormalities. When you have a left ventricular dysfunction in your heart, it can lead to congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure can cause multitudinal cardiac disorders.
One of the most common reasons for heart failure is a blockage in the left ventricular of the heart. Thus, detecting it earlier is essential before it can cause severe diseases. The left ventricle plays a vital function in our heart by pumping back the oxygenated blood to different parts of our body that are our vital organs. Therefore, it becomes imperative that whenever we diagnose any heart-related problem, we need to look for the left ventricle. Many heart-related problems are associated with the dysfunction of the heart.
What happens in Left Ventricular dysfunction?
Left ventricular dysfunction results in heart failure in most cases. In this one chamber that is present in the heart becomes weekend. So the heart cannot supply adequate oxygenated blood to the body’s vital organs. It results from poorly controlled blood pressure, which goes to an extremely high level.
Apart from this, it can also result from heart muscle damage because of the blockage in the coronary artery. Some of the common symptoms associated with failure include:
- Breath shortness
- swollen abdomen and legs
- Coughing
- fatigue
- nausea
- Increase in heartbeat
- weight gain
- chest pain
In some cases, the patient might not experience any of the above symptoms.
Heart failure! The growing worldwide health problem
Suppose you have thought that Covid 19 is the most significant pandemic. But that’s not true. If we talk about one of the most extensive comprehensive spread diseases which affected millions of people, then it’s going to heart failure. Heart failure has affected approximately 26,000,000 people around the globe, and the number is still increasing daily. Heart failure, in most cases primary cause of death among adults. It can result in an improper diet, consuming high-calorie junk food, and lack of sleep and exercise. All these factors can lead to heart failure.
Heart failure disease expenditures are spreading drastically, especially with age. According to a study, the increase in age is directly proportional to heart-related diseases. That means that as you grow into a full adult, there are chances of heart-related diseases. Thus, consuming a proper diet and taking good care of your health is essential.
Although many studies have been performed to develop therapies that can prevent heart-related diseases, the morbidity and mortality rate doesn’t come down. Because of not having suitable treatments, technological companies have decided to work hard, especially in biomedical Companies. Many big companies, including Samsung, Sony, and Apple, are working with biomedical agencies to develop new ways to help detect heart abnormalities.
The algorithm of artificial intelligence is currently working on identifying cardiac dysfunction. If we talk technically, the ejection fraction must be less than or equal to 40% from the electrocardiogram. However, to identify cardiac dysfunction with the help of ECG, a smartwatch with a single lead has to be evaluated and tested.
So as per the studies of the Mayo Clinic, smartwatches can detect left ventricle dysfunction. In this study, the researcher utilized only ECG, which has a single lead; therefore, Researchers collected the data from the Apple Watch. People can use the ECG feature of the Apple series of watches to detect left ventricular dysfunction. The Apple Watch ECG feature works by putting the hand on the crown. You need to keep your hands for 3 minutes, and then the watch will send the reports, or you can watch them on the Apple Watch app.
A study by Mayo Clinic
ECG utilizes 12 lead electrodes put onto the patient’s chest, legs, and arms, which monitor the electrical signals generated by the heart. To get the result of ECG by using the Apple Watch, researchers have modified the 12 leads algorithm, which can detect weak heart muscles.
So for this, researchers conducted research for six months in 11 countries and 46 states. And from different locations. Many people were involved in the study. Then ECG data was collected to make the algorithm. It tested whether an Apple Watch would identify a problem by measuring the pump strength in many participants.
Features of Apple smartwatch
Apple smartwatches have features from hands-free calls to listening to your favorite track. All think can be controlled by our smartwatch. Apart from this, it also has profound to be able to detect a large number of diseases. So we have listed below some of the features of Apple smartphones related to seeing health problems.
1. Heart rate notifications.
One of the significant features of using the Apple Watch is that it can detect low or high heart rates. By this, you can evaluate whether you are liable for a disease. Doctors also utilize the Apple Watch to identify this situation of patients and whether it is critical.
For example, suppose a person’s heartbeat goes above 120 beats per minute or below 40 per minute even though they are not doing anything for 10 minutes. In that case, the users will get a notification. Although as per your condition, you can adjust the bpm. You can also turn the reports off if you don’t want to see them. The heart rate notification comes along with the time and date so you can keep a record of it. And you can see it later on on the help app, which is present on iPhone. One thing to remember here is that all the Apple Watch series provide this feature.
2. Notifications of Irregular rhythm
With the notifications of irregular rhythm, you can check any irregular rhythm inside the body, which may result in atrial fibrillation. The distinctive rhythm notification feature will detect the signs of atrial fibrillation.
The notification also utilizes heart sensors to perceive the pulse rate by binding to the wrist. Specific algorithms detected the irregular rhythm cycle, which suggests that the patient is suffering from atrial fibrillation.
3. ECG app
The ECG app works like a normal ECG by detecting the heart rate through peaks. People who have experienced symptoms such as skipped or rapid heartbeat will receive notification about the irregular rhythm of their heart. So what happens here is that the digital crown of the Apple Watch consists of heart sensors utilized by the ECG app. The back crystal and the digital crown record the ECG similarly to the lead ECG. You can see the results on the ECG app, which tells you about atrial fibrillation, sinus rhythm, or poor heart rate. Finally, studies from the Mayo Clinic also rightfully suggested that the smartwatch from Apple can detect the signs of left ventricular articulation.
Summing Up
So we have seen the health benefits of using the Apple Watch. When you have a left ventricular dysfunction in your heart, it can lead to congestive heart failure. So the smartwatch from Apple detects the LVD. Moreover, if you are buying the Apple Watch for your health purpose, then you should choose the apple watch six as it has all the above features.
