Apple Watch detects heart problem known to cause strokes

The Apple Watch has been found to detect a heart condition that affects some 2.7 million people in the US, a new study has revealed. By pairing the smartwatch's heart rate sensors with artificial intelligence, researchers developed an algorithm capable of distinguishing an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation, from a normal heart rhythm - and with 97 percent accuracy. Atrial fibrillation, although easily treatable, has been difficult to diagnose and the team believes their work could pave the way for new methods to identify the abnormality. The Apple Watch has been found to detect a heart condition that affects some 2.7 million people in the US, a new study has revealed. The algorithm was accurate 97 percent of the time using the smartwatch's heart rate sensor (stock) University of California, San Francisco, in collaboration with the app Cardiogram, trained a deep neural network with heart readings from 6,158 Cardiogram users.