Study claims Apple Watch Can Use Activity Data to Assess Frailty
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Study claims Apple Watch Can Use Activity Data to Assess Frailty
Apple Watch and iPhone can tell more about you in terms of your health than even from your doctor. Yes!!! You heard it right…. A study claims Apple watch can use activity data to assess the frailty of you. The research was conducted by the students of Stanford University. They claimed Apple watches can accurately tell you about your health without going to a doctor. The study was done on cardiovascular disease patients. Moreover, Apple itself funded the study, taking 110 Veterans Affairs patients with iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 3. The data and information were collected with the help of the Activity app and VascTrac. The patients or volunteers were followed for over 6 months under observations. They were equipped with iPhone and Apple Watch running with the VascTrac research app.
6MWT:
During the study, patients were asked to perform a six-minute walking test. In the test, a higher score indicates better “cardiac, respiratory, circulatory, and neuromuscular function whereas a lower score indicates the improvements in cardiac, respiratory and neuromuscular function. The patients’ tests were performed at home as well as in the clinic. Apple concluded the research; the results showed an accuracy of frailty in patients with 90% sensitivity and 85% in clinical settings. As far as home and non-clinical settings are concerned, the frailty rate accuracy percentage was 83% sensitivity and 60% specificity. As a result, it is cleared that frailty can be determined by 6 minutes walking test (6MWT).
The results of the research conducted indicate that the combination of the iPhone and Apple Watch can predict frailty based on 6MWT performance. However, this is good news for the patients who can’t come to some clinic or hospital. Previously, two separate studies also claim that the Apple Watch can detect cases of COVID-19 positivity before few days of symptoms. Additionally, the researchers concluded that with the help of passive activity, data can be recorded by an iPhone and Apple Watch.
