The Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 finally have the function that we have been waiting for: the ability to detect hypertension, often known as chronic high blood pressure. Additionally, it has been made available for the Apple Watch Ultra 2, Series 9, and Series 10. Does this imply that you can use your Apple wearable to take your blood pressure readings instead of the conventional cuff device? Not quite, that is. Here is how the new feature will function and how it can be helpful once regulatory permission is obtained, which Apple claims will happen soon.
Blood pressure measurement
The force that your blood exerts on the artery walls, which transport blood away from the heart, during a heartbeat is measured by your blood pressure. Low blood pressure may be a sign that your body is not getting enough oxygen and other nutrients, while high blood pressure suggests that this system may be under excessive stress.
The systolic blood pressure, which is taken while your heart beats, and the diastolic blood pressure, which is measured in between heartbeats, are the two figures that make up a typical blood pressure measurement. The danger of cardiovascular issues like heart attacks and strokes increases if persistently high blood pressure is verified.
The Apple Watch's optical (light-based) heart sensor, which is already used to determine your heart rate, also monitors blood vessel changes while your heart beats. Your blood pressure is then determined using a proprietary algorithm that Apple created.
But you can not make spot inspections, and you will not see precise figures on the screen.
It is crucial to realize that, if a doctor takes your blood pressure readings, the Apple Watch is not a blood pressure monitor like the inflated arm cuff you use. Rather, the wearable monitors for potential hypertension over an extended period of time, which you can discuss with a healthcare provider.
Readings for a month
Apple claims that the Apple Watch's new hypertension detection capability "works silently in the background" and evaluates measurements over a 30-day rolling period. An alert stating that you might have high blood pressure and that you should take further action will appear on the screen if something does appear off.
For the next week, it is advised that you do daily spot checks using a regular blood pressure monitor, which you can get from stores or borrow from your neighborhood clinic or physician. You will need to manually log these readings, but you may enter them into your iPhone's Health app.
After completing that, you can schedule a professional health examination and bring your recorded blood pressure measurements. Your doctor will probably also take another blood pressure reading, but rather than depending just on one set of statistics, it is useful to have a week's worth of data (along with the original Apple Watch alert).
According to Apple, its watches will have warned around a million individuals about hypertension issues they were unaware of in less than a year. All of this is based on an algorithm that has been improved using machine learning and data from over 100,000 participants. It has also been validated in a clinical trial with over 2,000 individuals.
But according to Apple, a warning does not always indicate that you have hypertension, and the algorithm will not identify every instance of the illness.
