The Apple Watch has been credited with saving another life due to its heart beat monitoring functionality, with the wearable device detecting an unusual pulse rate and a suggestion to go to hospital, ultimately leading to a diagnosis of tachycardia.
Posting to Twitter, host of radio show Science Friday Ira Flatow revealed his brother was "saved by his Apple Watch," alerting him to a higher than normal heart beat. According to the personality, the heart beat was in excess of 200 beats per minute, prompting the sibling to take a trip to the hospital.
Doctors issued a diagnosis of tachycardia, a condition when the heart rate exceeds the normal resting rate, which for most adults would be a resting heart rate of over 100 beats per minute. While such rates could be normal, as in cases where the person regularly exercises, it can also be deemed abnormal for a variety of problems, including electrical issues within the heart itself.
My brother was saved by his Apple Watch. After he felt a rapid heart beat >200 bpm, his watch told him to "go to the hospital." He did and his tachycardia was diagnosed.
-- Ira Flatow (@iraflatow) March 7, 2019
Flatow also posted a comment from the brother on the accuracy of the Apple Watch, noting "during the 15 hours I was at the hospital hooked up to the monitors, my monitors never disagreed with my Watch's reading. I checked many times."
The introduction of functions in watchOS 5.1.2, including enabling the electrocardiogram function in the Apple Watch Series 4 in the United States and the Irregular Rhythm Notification for all models, has been credited with saving numerous lives since the start of the year.
In January, a New Hampshire man credited the Apple Watch Series 4's ECG function for spotting atrial fibrillation. In February, a North Carolina native was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia following a similar Apple Watch notification, while another in Washington learned his atrial fibrillation had returned via the device.