Apple Watch measures blood oxygen level as reliably as a professional oximeter

Oct. 28 (Portaltic/EP) –

the smart watch Apple Watch can measure blood oxygen level as well as a professional oximeter, with an average difference of less than one percent in readings.

The most recent ‘smartwatch’ models include among their health functions the record blood oxygen level (SpO2)which allows to detect hypoxia or low level of oxygen in the blood, a condition that is related to sleep apnea, a sleep disorder in which breathing is repeatedly interrupted.

Its advantage over the health tool is that it can be monitored from home, and since it is a watch, it can be worn all day on the wrist, instead of hooked to the finger, which facilitates easier monitoring. continued.

To know your reliability levela group of scientists from the Czech Technical University in Prague has analyzed a commercial ‘smartwatch’, in this case an Apple Watch series 6, to discover if it is close to that of a professional oximeter (Masimo Radical-7).

The researchers have had the participation of 24 healthy people, between 20 and 28 years old, who have had their blood oxygen level measured with the Apple Watch placed on their left wrist and the professional medical sensor on the ring finger of their left hand. The test was carried out between February and March 2021, at an altitude of 405 meters above sea level. In total, 1,284 valid read pairs were obtained, out of a total of 1,364.

The analysis shows that “the absolute differences between the means of the SpO2 measurements were small”, when buying those of one device and another. “The mean absolute difference or bias between the measurements of the watch and the oximeter was less than 1% SpO2,” according to pick up the text of the research.

Specifically, he explains that “at low oxygen levels, the watch tended to measure higher SpO2 values ​​than the oximeter, and this difference averaged about 1% of SpO2 for readings less than 90%” – a reading that is considered ” clinically relevant”, while levels of 95% or higher are understood as normal.

The researchers clarify that these results have been obtained with young and healthy volunteers, and that “could be different in the case of chronic elderly patients with very prolonged or extreme desaturations“.

In any case, they believe that ‘smartwatches’ can be “a useful tool in self-care outside the clinic” to measure blood oxygen levels.