How accurate is apple watch blood oxygen

It's not particularly good anyway. Masimo's David has taken on Apple's Goliath, and right now, it appears to be winning. The tech behemoth has just removed the blood oxygen monitor from the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2.

Thank you for visiting nature. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer. In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript. It is unclear how frequently the Apple Watch produces spO 2 measurements outside of the normal range in healthy individuals at rest. We conducted a head-to-head comparison in 38 healthy individuals between two watches and two medical-grade pulse oximeters.

How accurate is apple watch blood oxygen

A new validation study published this month puts the blood oxygen feature of the Apple Watch to the test. As spotted by MyHealthyApple , the study was published this month in the Digital Health open access journal. For the study, researchers recruited 24 healthy participants. Each person wore an Apple Watch Series 6 on their left wrist and a pulse oximeter sensor on their left middle finger the Masimo Radical The participants breathed via a breathing circuit with a three-way non-rebreathing valve in three phases. First, in the 2-minute initial stabilization phase, the participants inhaled the ambient air. In the final stabilization phase, the participants inhaled the ambient air again until SpO 2 returned to normal values. Measurements of SpO 2 were taken from the smartwatch and the pulse oximeter simultaneously in s intervals. The bias in SpO 2 between the smartwatch and the oximeter was 0. Apple first added blood oxygen measurement support to the Apple Watch Series 6. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.

This indicates that directionality of errors may serve as a useful metric for comparing across different smartwatch-based oxygen saturation measurement technologies. S1 Table Descriptive statistics of readings from clinical-grade oximeters and commercial smartwatches. Lots of things can happen in 15 seconds.

Federal government websites often end in. The site is secure. Blood oxygen saturation SpO2 is an important measurement for monitoring patients with acute and chronic conditions that are associated with low blood oxygen levels. While smartwatches may provide a new method for continuous and unobtrusive SpO2 monitoring, it is necessary to understand their accuracy and limitations to ensure that they are used in a fit-for-purpose manner. The mean absolute error MAE , mean directional error MDE and root mean squared error RMSE were used to evaluate the accuracy of the smartwatches as compared to a clinical grade pulse oximeter.

On the Apple Watch Series 6 and newer, you can measure your blood oxygen levels right from your wrist. We'll walk you through it! Apple states that the blood oxygen monitoring feature isn't intended for medical use. Rather, it was designed for "general fitness and wellness purposes. There's a reason why Apple puts this warning upfront. The Blood Oxygen app on the Apple Watch isn't completely reliable. Compared to a simple finger-based blood oxygen monitor , it doesn't provide the most accurate results. The inaccuracy is due to the fact that the Apple Watch measures your blood oxygen levels through your wrist.

How accurate is apple watch blood oxygen

That seems odd, considering that low blood oxygen is a serious medical condition. This post contains affiliate links. Cult of Mac may earn a commission when you use our links to buy items.

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Investigating the accuracy of blood oxygen saturation measurements in common consumer smartwatches. Cureus is not responsible for the scientific accuracy or reliability of data or conclusions published herein. Apple Watch vs. That's not bad for taking your pulse, but it's not ideal for many other readings. How to use the blood oxygen app on Apple Watch. Copy to clipboard. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. Learn more Sign up. Eight articles were original articles that were excluded due to not comparing Apple Watch spO 2 measurements to a ground truth [ 5 - 12 ]. While the ITA and Fitzpatrick measurements demonstrated a strong correlation, the continuous ITA values are difficult to employ as compared with the ordinal Fitzpatrick measurements for the statistical analyses presented herein. Received : 03 November The average absolute difference between the Apple Watch and the conventional pulse oximeter was 2. Blood oxygen accuracy How accurate is the blood oxygen on your watch. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process. Article Google Scholar.

By Nicole Wetsman. The new Apple Watch Series 6 includes a sensor that allows the watch to measure blood oxygen levels.

Fitzgerald RK, Johnson A. Investigating the accuracy of blood oxygen saturation measurements in common consumer smartwatches. Whether the watch is suited for remote monitoring in patients with established conditions that affect their oxygen saturation depends on the goal of that monitoring. It uses this information to calculate the levels of hemoglobin molecules that are bound to oxygen in the blood and, from there, gives a readout of your blood oxygen levels. Opens in a new tab or window. The spO 2 measurement is one of these features, and previously published studies that compare spO 2 measurements by the watch to those by a conventional, medical-grade pulse oximeter found no strong systematic bias between the two 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Journal of Medical Internet Research. Otherwise please declare all competing interests beginning with the statement "I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests:". Discussion The oxygen saturation measurement functionality has been adopted by multiple smartwatch manufacturers as a desirable feature and selling point. Furthermore, the accuracy of pulse oximeters is also influence by several other factors such as poor perfusion, anemia and hemoglobinopathies. Show results from All journals This journal. Co-morbidities such as participant history of respiratory disease should be reported, if known. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here. Comparison of SpO 2 and heart rate values on Apple Watch and conventional commercial oximeters devices in patients with lung disease.