ECG on Apple Watch versus exam in a clinic. We compared the results

After activating the ECG function in my Apple Watch, I immediately checked how it works. Later, I went to the clinic to do the usual electrocardiograph examination. And then I asked a familiar doctor to take a professional look at both results.

One of the new products in the Apple Watch of the 4th generation was the ability to perform so-called electrocardiograph, or ECG examination. At first, the people of the United States could take advantage of this benefit, where the producer received permission from the relevant institutions.

Apple Watch ECG

Apple could not initially activate this feature in other countries than the United States. However, it methodically expands the availability of ECG on Apple Watch. Access was limited to the start of the serial number - only on distribution equipment in the USA. Later, the company started checking only the current location.

Thanks to this, people who went to the country where the ECG on Apple Watch was available, could after one of the updates activate this feature on their copy of the watch. What's more, such a mobile electrocardiograph could be successfully performed even after returning to Poland.

I had the opportunity to include this function myself during my visit to the United States. However, since recently the ECG on Apple Watch can be used in Poland without any combination , and I have already decided some time ago whether such research makes sense at all.

One ECG test for the other is not equal.

In April I went to the clinic to do a classic ECG and then compare the results with those on the watch. I admit, however, that from the very beginning I was very skeptical - the very degree of complexity of preparation for both types of research is different.

During the classic ECG, numerous electrodes are placed on the body. They need to be greased with gel to keep them together. The machine then sends electrical impulses and draws characteristic graphs. For such an examination in addition, you have to go and pay for it - and it is not uncommon to book a date.

In the case of a watch, touch the lace and the pouf for 30 seconds with your finger! on the phone, a PDF file with a graph automatically appears, which you can send to your doctor, for example. It sounds too good to be true, right?

For peasant reason there is no chance that both tests - with the use of professional apparatus and a small clock - would give similar results, right? On the other hand: well, technology is moving forward, two decades ago, even NASA computers did not have as much power as today's Apple Watche. Maybe there is something in it?

I am not a doctor myself and ... I can not read ECG charts. So I decided that instead of fooling around, I would just perform both tests - the ECG on Apple Watch and the ECG in the clinic - and present the readers here. Therefore he was asking for one of the commentators under one of the previous texts.

ECG on the Apple Watch - results

ECG on the electrocardiograph - results

All tests were done the same morning.

I tested Watik's apple twice - before and after the classic ECG. However, as I mentioned, the above charts basically do not tell me much, because I can not read them. However, I asked for a commentary to the results of a familiar doctor from one of the Warsaw clinics. I sent both PDFs and photos to her and I give her a voice:

The second record from the watch is illegible and technically bad - on the basis of this record it is difficult to assess the correctness of the heart rhythm, exclude arrhythmias and rule out myocardial ischemia. On the basis of the first record - although it is also technically bad - it can only be assessed that there are no arrhythmias.

Such a normal ECG record is made of limb and precordial leads. However, on this record from the watch we only have a record of the wrist. So once it is incomplete and two - it is poor in drainage and does not coincide with the recording made by the ECG apparatus.

Based on the readings from the watch, it is difficult to assess the current cardiac status of the patient. At most, it can be concluded that the patient does not have any arrhythmias.

Unfortunately, the doctor confirms what I was afraid of. The ECG on Apple Watch may be useful for athletes, but only to see if they have rhythm disturbances. Like a man knew and yet he deluded himself , but the watch would not soon replace medical equipment. Today, this ECG is closer to the artery on the wrist ...

ECG on Apple Watch versus exam in a clinic. We compared the results