Apple Watch hypertension alert to prompt GP check-ups

GPs can expect to see more patients come in to discuss their blood pressure, following the launch of a new Apple Watch feature which alerts users to consistent signs of possible hypertension risk.
 
Apple announced on Wednesday that its ‘groundbreaking hypertension notifications feature’ is now available in Australia after approval was granted by the Therapeutic Goods Administration in December.
 
The move has been welcomed by doctors as a positive ‘starting point’ for patients to learn more about their health and the risks of hypertension.
 
Once the feature is enabled by the wearer, Apple Watches will collect from the optical heart sensor to analyse how a user’s blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart.
 
The algorithm works passively in the background and reviews data over 30-day periods, notifying users if it detects a pattern of hypertension.
 
If watch-wearers receive a notification, Apple suggests they log their blood pressure for seven days using a third-party blood pressure cuff and share the results with their doctor.
 
Professor Garry Jennings, Chief Medical Advisor at the Australian Heart Foundation, described hypertension awareness in Australia as being ‘far too low’, saying said new technologies advising people that they might have hypertension are welcome.  
 
‘Despite high blood pressure causing a greater risk of heart attack and stroke, only about a third of adults with hypertension are aware of it and have their blood pressure lowered to satisfactory levels,’ he said.
 
RACGP Vice President Dr Ramya Raman said the feature could bring greater awareness to patients about hypertension but emphasises that a notification does not mean a diagnosis.
 
‘It isn’t an endpoint to a diagnosis but it’s a starting point, and it’s a useful, very practical and accessible starting point for many within the community,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘It’s an opportunity for people to take notice if their blood pressure is a little bit high, and it’s a prompt to seek out your GP and have appropriate cardiovascular assessments, including other cardiovascular risk factors and family history, for an appropriate diagnosis to be made by the clinician.’
 
Dr Raman anticipates GPs will most likely see patients come in to discuss hypertension notifications.
 
‘I already see patients who come in and say, my watch or my phone detected that I had an abnormal heart rate, so this [kind of data] is something patients are wanting, they’re watching it, and they don't have to purchase complex medical equipment to monitor these things,’ she said.
 
‘But the other component of this is it does increase aspects of health anxiety as well for patients, so there will be a need for education about the fact that, yes, you picked it up, but that doesn’t mean that that’s a diagnosis component.
 
‘If a patient already has an underlying heart condition and receives a detection, it can elevate their level of anxiety that something is going wrong, so we just got to be prudent with that.’
 
Testing performed by Apple of 2000 people found 41% sensitivity in picking up overall cases of hypertension. The specificity among those with normal blood pressure was 95%.
 
The tech giant predicts that with the reach of the Apple Watch, the feature will notify more than one million people with undiagnosed hypertension worldwide within its first year of availability.
 
GP and member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Practice Technology and Management, Dr David Adam, said that as there are a significant number of people thought to have undiagnosed hypertension, this may help to uncover the condition earlier than expected.
 
‘As a screening tool, an Apple Watch notification should prompt appropriate confirmation examination and investigations. It’s important GPs consider the possibility of secondary hypertension,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘The prevalence of hyperaldosteronism is much higher than previously thought, and correction should substantially improve cardiovascular risk.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

blood pressure fitness watch health data hypertension preventive healthcare technology