HN Reader

Apple expects to notify 100M people that they have hypertension in a year

I am looking forward to this feature, but worry about it's accuracy.

Every time I go to the doctor and they hook me up to a blood pressure monitor, it comes back way high (like 160/90). I then request a manual check and it always comes back normal. I didn't figure this out until after they prescribed me calcium channel blockers (and they didn't do anything). Something about the shape of my arm or something.

Anyway point being that a faulty reading led to me being prescribed meds I did not need. Hoping this doesn't lead to more of the same.

2 days agoby crims0n

Every 20 mmHg increase in your systolic blood pressure, or 10 mmHg increase in diastolic blood pressure, doubles your mortality. And only 23% of people with high blood pressure have it under control.

Pretty massive implications for public health.

I wrote about some of the science behind on-the-wrist blood pressure monitoring and public health implications here:

https://www.empirical.health/blog/apple-watch-blood-pressure...

2 days agoby brandonb

I think the headline is wrong: at 20:18 in Apple's presentation, the presenter said they expect to notify one million people during the year, not 100 million.

2 days agoby NobodyNada

It’s incredible how many health issues people have but aren’t aware of. I advise people find doctors and facilities that are friendly towards getting more diagnostics not less. Blood work and other types of tests can help you fix things early.

2 days agoby SilverElfin

From the article: "it will warn of a potential issue rather than diagnose it"