The Apple Watch on your wrist can serve as an essential health monitoring tool under the right circumstances. According to MyHealthyApple and MacRumorsApple-funded Stanford researchers have determined that the Apple Watch can accurately measure the frailty (or rather, the distance covered in six minutes of walking) in patients with cardiovascular disease when they are at home. Using the personal smartwatch was almost as good as a clinical test, the Stanford study found.
Scientists collected the data using the Apple Watch Series 3 and a specially designed VascTrac app, but the third-party software is unlikely to be needed in the future. WatchOS 7 includes the six-minute walk test and other mobility data, and you can review your performance in the Health app on your iPhone (in the Browse tab under Respiratory).
The results suggest that the Apple Watch and other smartwatches could prevent patients from going to the doctor to measure their functional capacity – they could simply walk around their homes and enter if there are signs of trouble. This clearly helps Apple to continue to present its bracelets as a health device, but it also points to a future where the technology you already have will be enough to provide doctors with an abundance of useful information.