New Apple Watch adds heart tracking—here's why we should welcome ECG for everyone

New Apple Watch adds heart tracking—here's why we should welcome ECG for everyone

6 years ago
Anonymous $oIHRkISgaL

https://phys.org/news/2018-09-apple-heart-trackinghere-ecg.html

There isn't yet enough evidence to show that using an ECG in general to screen people for cardiovascular diseases ultimately makes them healthier. In fact, it's not recommended for screening people who are at low risk of developing problems because it could produce false positive results (indicating a problem where none really exists). This can then lead healthy people to seek unnecessary, invasive and potentially harmful treatments, at a cost to the health service provider, as well as producing increased anxiety. For those who are at high risk of disease, ECG results might suggest medical intervention when lifestyle changes could actually be more beneficial. But does this really mean the technology shouldn't be made more widely available?

It would be naive to assume that everyone who is at risk of heart problems knows, never mind consults with a doctor, about it. Often, people don't realise until it is too late and they need emergency treatment and lengthy retrospective investigation – or, at worse, they die. To ignore the current digital health movement, and surging enthusiasm for it among early adopters of devices, health enthusiasts and growing numbers of people more generally would also be foolish.