How Apple Watch Enables Breakthrough Research on Heart Health

Apple has launched the new program, enabling researchers to study, track, and treat various health conditions.

Apple Watch has become an increasingly powerful tool for monitoring and improving users’ heart health. With features like high and low heart notifications, Cardio Fitness, irregular rhythm notifications, the ECG app, and AFib History, Apple Watch provides users with an in-depth understanding of their heart health with actionable insights.

But the benefits of Apple Watch extend beyond individual users. Since the launch of ResearchKit and CareKit in 2015, researchers, clinicians, and developers have been able to use the technology to study, track, and treat a broad range of health conditions.

To further advance discoveries in health research, Apple has launched the Investigator Support Program. Through this program, Apple provides researchers with Apple Watch devices to break new ground in health research, including the scientific understanding of the heart.

Apple is highlighting the work of researchers who are studying the heart like never before using Apple Watch. For example, researchers at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia are exploring how cancer treatments can impact heart rhythm and are identifying innovative ways to intervene. With the help of the Apple Watch ECG app, the researchers will study the sensitivity of the app in 40 children and adolescent patients, hoping to gain insights into cardiac toxicity and identify potential opportunities for intervention.

In another study, researchers at Texas A&M University and Stanford Medicine will use Apple Watch to study the impact of wildfire smoke on heart health in firefighters. The study will monitor heart rate and rhythm, sleep, blood oxygen, activity data, and more, and will help firefighters see their results in real time to tailor interventions and understand high-risk groups better.

Apple Watch is spotlighting the cutting-edge work of health researchers around the world who are using the technology to study the heart like never before. By providing researchers with access to powerful health monitoring technology, Apple is helping to break new ground in health research and improve health at scale.