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Gifting a smart watch to monitor heart health? Cardiologist weighs in

By Jessica Kronzer

A smart watch may be under your Christmas tree this week. The nifty gadgets are advertised as a tool to help you stay healthy.

But can smart watches be trusted to look out for your heart? A Maryland cardiologist said the tech can monitor heart rate variability, absolute heart rate and its trends as well as heart rhythm.

“Smart watches are fantastic screening tools, but they are not diagnostic tools,” said Dr. Minhal Makshood, a cardiologist with MedStar Montgomery Medical Center. “Ultimately, they cannot substitute your physician.”

The watches can screen for changes in heart patterns that don’t always present symptoms right away.

“They’re great for noticing trends,” she said. “And then bringing that data, if there’s any abnormality, to your doctor for clear diagnosis, because they are not ultimately, medical grade devices.”

Some changes could warrant a visit to your doctor, she said.

“If your smart watch is telling you that at rest, your heart rate is increasing,” Makshood said. “If there is abnormal response to exercise, or even if it’s flagging irregular heart rhythm.”

The watches could make a great gift for people who have heart disease, high blood pressure or loved ones with risk factors for heart disease such as diabetes, high cholesterol or sleep apnea.

“Those patients are at risk of developing things like atrial fibrillation,” she said. “That’s an abnormal heart rhythm that is pretty common and when untreated, can lead to blood clot formation and increased risk of stroke.”

But the smart watches have some shortfalls. Makshood said certain data collected by the tech could be inaccurate.

“You need to understand caveats, like blood pressure assessment, oxygen saturation may not always be accurate,” she said. “You can get false alarms depending on motion, depending on skin contact during exercise, all these are sensitive to the changes that you see in your watch.”

And when shopping for a smart watch, there are certain data points the devices measure that are more helpful than others.

“If the watch specifically tells you your heart rate, heart rate trends, if it tells you about heart rate variability, response to sleep and exercise,” Makshood said. “And if it helps tracking the heart rhythm with a single lead ECG, which the Apple Watch allows. That is really useful information.”

The Apple Watch was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the detection of atrial fibrillation.

Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids

By The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms. “We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content. Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
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