The Apple Watch on your wrist might serve as a vital medical monitoring tool in the right circumstances.
According to MyHealthyApple and MacRumors, Stanford researchers funded by Apple have determined that the Apple Watch can accurately gauge the frailty (or rather, the distance traveled in a six-minute walk) of cardiovascular disease patients while they’re at home.
Personal smartwatch use was nearly as good as an in-clinic test, Stanford’s study revealed.
The data was collected using an Apple Watch Series 3 and a custom-made VascTrac app, but third-party software is unlikely to be required in the future.
The six-minute walk test and other mobility data are included in WatchOS 7, and you can check your results in the Health app on your iPhone (in the Browse tab under Respiratory).
The results suggest that the Apple Watch and other smartwatches could save patients the hassle of going to the doctor to get their functional ability measured — instead, they could easily walk around their homes and call in if they notice anything unusual.
This obviously helps Apple market its wristwear as a wellness product, but it also points at a future where the hardware you already own is adequate to provide doctors with a wealth of knowledge.