(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Apple Watch users in the UAE won't have to rely on a blood pressure monitor anymore, instead they can just resort to their wrist to check blood pressure levels.

On December 3, the watch introduced groundbreaking hypertension notifications feature in the UAE, which can alert users if signs of chronic high blood pressure - or hypertension - are detected.

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Hypertension is the leading risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and kidney disease, and impacts approximately 1.3 billion adults globally. It is frequently undiagnosed because it often has no symptoms, many people do not see a doctor regularly, and even during a clinical visit, it can be easily missed with a single measurement.

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The company confirmed these notifications are grounded in rigorous scientific validation. The feature was developed with advanced machine learning and training data from multiple studies totaling over 100,000 participants. Its performance was then validated in a clinical study of over 2,000 participants.

How does it work?

The watch uses data from the optical heart sensor to analyse how a user's blood vessels respond to the beats of the heart.

The algorithm works passively in the background, reviewing data over 30-day periods, and will notify users if it detects consistent signs of hypertension.

These notifications provide users with insights into their health, so they can begin making potentially lifesaving behavioral changes, or start treatment to reduce their risk of serious, long-term health events.

If users receive a hypertension notification, it is recommended that they log their blood pressure for seven days using a third-party blood pressure cuff and share the results with their provider at their next visit.

Although the watch will not detect all instances of hypertension, the feature is expected to notify over 1 million people with undiagnosed hypertension within the first year.

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