ECG of the Apple Watch, what differences do they have with a doctor?

From the Apple Watch Series 4 onwards, with the exception of the ‘SE’, all Apple watches have the ability to perform electrocardiograms. It is a very interesting function with which to detect possible atrial fibrillation. Now, to what extent is it equivalent to the ECGs that are done in a hospital?

ECG of the Apple Watch

The key is not to have the same leads

When you go to a medical center to have an EKG done, they are done with devices that normally have 12 leads. The more of these, the greater and better information is obtained on the electrical activity of the heart. With the Apple Watch, however, there is only one derivation, which may occasionally be sufficient to detect an anomaly, but cannot be equated with the accuracy of the medical instrument.

instrumento ecg

Besides, there is the fact that the professional apparatus is oriented towards this, being gadgets that cost thousands of euros and handled by qualified professionals. An Apple Watch in the end, despite all its virtues, it is still a consumer electronics device that is not prepared to collect and interpret such complex reports.

Therefore, in terms of the reliability of the results, you should know that an Apple Watch may not be detecting a real fibrillation, while a medical device is. In the same way that, although it is usually correct, the situation may arise that it detects an anomaly that does not really exist. Therefore, as recommended by Apple itself, you should always go to a health center in the event of ailments or doubts regarding these pathologies.

ECG Apple Watch

The same happens with other functions

As you may already know, there are other health features on Apple Watch that can be very useful as well. Measurement of the heart pulse, blood oxygen level, fall detector … However, with all of them the same thing happens as with the ECG, since their reliability cannot be compared to that of the medical devices designed for it.

Of course, there are some such as the heart pulse measurement that work quite well and that, although they cannot be equivalent, they act in a very exact way as they have been shown in various tests over years. And it is that, despite everything, functions like these or the measurement of oxygen in blood must have the approval of different medical establishments (hence they are not available in all countries).