Doctor, 43, reveals how Apple Watch saved her life by alerting her to terrifying health crisis
A Philadelphia doctor credits her Apple Watch with saving her life after it alerted her that she was experiencing a dangerous heart condition.
Erica Harris, 43, was stuck in traffic in November 2021 when she got an alert on her watch that her heart was beating too fast and irregularly - indicating what could be a dangerous condition of rapid atrial fibrillation (Afib).
The emergency medicine physician used her hands to push down on her chest to increase the pressure on her heart, which knocked her organ back into its normal rhythm, she told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
'It had been going on almost five minutes, which is the point where you’re at risk of developing stroke,' she said. At the time, she had no physical indications that her heart was beating irregularly.
The doctor was born with a congenital heart defect that had required her to undergo two surgeries, so after she received the alert, she contacted her cardiologist, who prescribed blood thinning medication to use in case of an Afib attack again, the outlet reported.
Although smartwatches aren't 100 percent correct all the time and aren't recommended over a physicians analysis, they have flagged medical events to some patients who wouldn't have known about it otherwise.
Erica Harris, 43, was stuck in traffic in November 2021 when she got an alert on her watch that her heart was beating too fast and irregularly - indicating what could be a potential dangerous condition of rapid atrial fibrillation
Her watch gave her an urgent alert and she was able to press her hands on her chest to knock her heart back into a normal rhythm. Harris, who was born with a heart condition, went to her cardiologist afterward and was prescribed blood thinners to take if the event happened again
Up to 30 percent of American adults wear smartwatches with health-tracking abilities, according to Care Evolution.
Nora Bursztein, 74, was one of those patients who, like Harris, received an urgent alert, which informed her that her heartbeat was at 48 beats per minute when it was normally in the 60s or 70s.
'I ignored it, thinking maybe it was the watch,' she told The Inquirer.
She got the alert a few more times over a couple of days and after trying on her daughter's watch and getting a lower heartbeat, she began to wonder if something was wrong.
'The follow day, I had surgery,' she said. She had a defibrillator and a pacemaker installed.
The American Heart Association recommends users seek medical attention if they receive an alert from their watch. Patients can undergo an electrocardiogram (EKG) at a doctor's visit to test the heart's rhythm to determine if there's actually a medical problem occurring.
However, smartwatches can be lifesaving tools and can notice trends patients might otherwise have not known.
An Apple Watch can notify the wearer of high and low heart rates and can indicate if the heart's rhythm is abnormal. It documents the data in the app, which can later be shown to a doctor for further evaluation.
But users should keep in mind that the watch is not a medical device and outside circumstances can affect the data collected, making it inaccurate. Roughly 20 percent of alerts are false, according to The Inquirer.
'We need to be sure we have an accurate diagnosis,' cardiologist Stavros Stavrakis told The Inquirer.
A team of physicians found in November 2022 that resting heart-related information collected by smartwatches was around 90 percent accurate. That number decreases to 70 percent during activity.
However, it is very rare to receive an urgent alert from a smartwatch, with less than one percent getting them, research found.
Only three to five percent of those over 65 receive an alert about an irregular heartbeat, Stavrakis said.
