16-year-old boy's blood oxygen level dropped on a skiing trip, Apple Watch saved his life

 

• The blood oxygen saturation level detected by her Apple Watch was nearly as accurate as that detected by the medical device

Apple Watch is once again winning hearts for its 'life-saving' features. Marcella Lee, a news anchor on San Diego's CBS 8 news channel, shares her experience with how the device helped save her son's life during a recent skiing trip.

Lee says that during the trip his 16-year-old son told him he felt unwell and would not be able to ski. After a while, she noticed that her lips and fingers were slightly blue, so he placed her Apple Watch on her wrist to measure her oxygen saturation levels. The watch then showed that the oxygen level in his blood was 66%.

The family then looked on the internet where they read that blood saturation levels below 88% required medical attention. They eventually went to a local ER where they found that the blood oxygen saturation level detected by their Apple Watch was almost as accurate as that detected by the medical device – 67%.

On further tests, doctors said that her son's lungs had filled with fluid and he was suffering from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), which can lead to death. As CBS 8 reports, about one in 10,000 skiers in Colorado is affected by HAPE.

Recently, a study concluded that ECG sensor data from Apple Watch can be used to develop a robust and accurate stress prediction tool. The study was conducted by researchers from the University of Waterloo, located in Canada. An ECG or electrocardiogram is a test that records the timing and strength of the electrical signals that make up the heartbeat. By looking at the ECG, a doctor can get information about your heart's rhythm and look for irregularities.

The report states that using the Apple Watch Series 6's ECG sensor, researchers found that there was a close correlation between ECG data, which included heart rate and deceleration potential, and participants' perceived stress levels at the time of the reading. Was informed.

Using this data, machine learning algorithms were developed to build predictive models. It states that while the stress model is said to have a 'high degree of accuracy', it has low recall.