Apple is spotlighting the cutting-edge work of health researchers around the world who are using the Apple Watch to study the heart like never before.
Senior pediatric oncologists from Melbourne, Australia, associate professor Rachel Conyers and Dr. Claudia Toro, are looking at how treatment can impact heart rhythm.
Toxicities in cancer treatment can lead to heart rhythm disturbances, such as prolonged QT syndrome, which can be potentially life-threatening.
Because of their susceptibility to long QT, children receiving cancer treatment are routinely screened at least once per week with a 12-lead ECG.
In the coming months, Dr. Conyers and her team at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute will begin researching the sensitivity of the Apple Watch ECG app in 40 children and adolescent patients.
Similarly, Texas A&M University professor Dr. So-Min Cheong is researching the social and health consequences of environmental disasters and climate change.
Through her connections in the research community, Dr. Cheong learned that Apple Watch could help capture the kind of health data she needed.
“I had always wanted to be able to do more noninvasive, sensor-based analysis on individuals to get at more precise health measurements,” she says.
Next month, Dr. Cheong and Drs. Brian Kimat Stanford Medicine will begin equipping firefighters with Apple Watch to study the impact of wildfire smoke on heart health.
“Firefighters are bound to benefit from the study,” Dr. Cheong shares. “We know wildfire smoke directly affects their health and with a study like this, they’ll be able to see their results in real time.”
Another team of researchers at the Amsterdam University Medical Centers, the Netherlands, is using the Apple Watch to study atrial fibrillation (AFib).
In the future, they plan to explore ways to identify possible opportunities to use the ECG app to monitor patients from home, as certain medications can alter a heart rhythm.
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