Listen to me! Are you buying the Apple Watch Series 4 for the ECG? Don’t!
So you have decided that in order to improve your health, watch your health or even if you are scared of a heart attack of AFib, you are going to buy the new Apple Watch Series 4! Have you REALLY read the small print? Do you REALLY understand what information it will give you? Most of us have not, so here is a quick review of some of the issues:
- Apple Watch Series 4 is a 1-lead healthcare gadget – real medical devices have 12-leads allowing them to know when a heart attack is imminent.
- Apple Watch Series 4 is an electro-magnetic band and not a true ECG device
- Apple Watch Series 4 will not let you know if you are having a heart attack (or a MI in professional terms)
- Apple Watch Series 4 ECG report will not, most likely, be acceptable by physicians for diagnosis
- Apple Watch Series 4 is not for THAT critical moment of life or death
- Apple Watch Series 4 will most likely cause anxiety for the wearer
- Apple Watch Series 4 has a very high degree of false-positive readings, meaning an incorrect indication that a particular condition or attribute is present when it’s not.
- Apple Watch Series 4 can tell the time (I have been told quite accurately).
- Apple Watch Series 4, according to the FDA, “is not intended to provide a notification on every episode of irregular rhythm suggestive of AFib and the absence of a notification is not intended to indicate no disease process is present.”
So, if this is the case, how can I, an ordinary netizen, look after my cardiovascular health? What can I do if I have already had a heart attack? Well, there are many other gadgets out there, but if you want to be serious, and really make sure that all is right with you, there are a number of 12-lead wearable medical devices in the marketplace such as HealthWatch – (www.healthwatchtech.com); or even Labtech (www.labtech.hu) and others.
Will I buy the Apple Watch Series 4? Sure, I will but for other reasons and not for the ECG feature as I see it as a gimmick and not as a healthcare assistant.
