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Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

reuters.com

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Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#51

Post by corysama »

arrrg wrote: post #28
eriktrautman wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you advocating that we shouldn't bother testing instead? I'd imagine that many people would be quite interested in knowing the ways they're not 100% that might actually kill them... like cancer.

Just imagine all the stress and suffering caused by the misdiagnosis and unnecessary visits to the doctor and unnecessary tests and imagine that on a grand scale (to say nothing of wasted resources). I’m not saying that to automatically disqualify and increase in the availability of testing – but it does have to be implemented with the proper care and caution.

Given the choice between

A) Everyone is told nothing.

B) 5% of people are told “Here’s something. It’s serious.” And, 45% of people are told “Here’s something. But, it’s not serious.”

Option B sounds greatly preferable.

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#52

Post by hellofunk »

dbg31415 wrote: post #41

Yeah, it's good at spotting issues... but man, health monitoring creeps me out. I don't want to live in a world where insurance companies and employers force us to hand over this data. Just feels really creepy to me. Like way over the line.

I don't want to live in a world where insurance companies or employers have any need or incentive to have this data. Like most developed nations outside the U.S. for example.

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#54

Post by MBCook »

pensatoio wrote: post #20
ERD0L wrote: post #3

Meanwhile WearOS is a joke both in hardware and software

I understand qualms with the software, but what about the hardware is a joke?

The Qualcomm chips used are a few years old because there isn’t enough demand for Qualcomm to make faster ones.

So it’s WAY behind the chip in Apple watches in terms of performance.

Even if wear OS was better (never used it myself) it couldn’t compete.

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#55

Post by xtagon »

dave84 wrote: post #50
lez wrote: post #43

Apple Watch is technically capable of detecting your heart rate. NSA is capable of enforcing Apple to feed this data to them, real time if needed. Never wear an Apple Watch during lying to powerful people, your heart rate will give you away.

That would be overkill considering they can extract your heart rate in real time from a video.

How is this possible? Honest question, I've never heard of this before.

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#56

Post by MBCook »

gatherhunterer wrote: post #15
robertlf wrote: post #14

I stopped reading at "funded by Apple Inc."

Most medical studies are not publicly funded[1]. You just dismissed the majority of medical research done in the U.S. in at least the last ten years. There are potential problems with private funding compromising studies but without any specific complaint this is just a baseless dismissal. 1. https://hub.jhu.edu/2015/12/15/industry-funded-clinical-tria...

Plus, this study had 400k people in it. This isn’t exactly a small “well we tried it on 20 people” study, it’s much higher quality.

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#57

Post by amelius »

xtagon wrote: post #55
dave84 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be overkill considering they can extract your heart rate in real time from a video.

How is this possible? Honest question, I've never heard of this before.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mit-algorithm

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#59

Post by reverend_gonzo »

xtagon wrote: post #55
dave84 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be overkill considering they can extract your heart rate in real time from a video.

How is this possible? Honest question, I've never heard of this before.

https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs231a/prev_projects_2016/fin... https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2018/01/30/novel-...

Essentially, using appropriate image analysis, they can sense the pulse of blood moving through the skin

Re: Apple Watch detects irregular heart beat in large U.S. study

#60

Post by danso »

tedivm wrote: post #45
danso wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think so. HIPAA defines the “covered entities” — e.g. hospitals, health plans — that must follow its regulations. Being a company that handles health data does not automatically make you a covered entity. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/190/who-must...

This isn't 100% accurate. While I can't say much about the case of the apple watch, I can say that there are a ton of tech companies which are not covered entities but which do fall under HIPAA guidelines. For example, the company I work at is not a covered entity because we do have access to PHI we have certain regulations we have to follow. Further, we have to sign BAAs with any covered entity we work with defining…

Do the examples you have in mind work with data that originates with HIPAA covered entities? That, and/or doing work on behalf of a CE would likely be a situation in which you’d have to comply: https://www.techhealthperspectives.com/2012/09/25/when-does-...

In a future where smartwatch companies integrate with a health plan/hospital’s medical records system, I would expect HIPAA to cover them. But in a case where a company is generating the data (via user consent/input), it might not be the case.

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