Stanford Medicine announces results from Apple Heart Study partnership

Image: Apple

After more than eight months and 400,000 registered participants, Stanford has announced the results of the heart study developed with Apple. According to Apple, their partnership with the Stanford University School of Medicine was the “largest study ever of its kind.”

The Apple Heart Study was announced as a joint study between the Stanford University School of Medicine and Apple. It originally launched alongside the Series 3 Apple Watch and was open to American users, over the age of 22, with a Series 1 Apple Watch or later and an iPhone 5s or later.



According to the press release, “Apple and Stanford created the study to evaluate Apple Watch’s irregular rhythm notification, which occasionally checks the heart’s rhythm in the background and sends a notification if an irregular heart rhythm appears to be suggestive of atrial fibrillation (AFib). As part of the study, if an irregular heart rhythm was identified, participants received a notification on their Apple Watch and iPhone, a telehealth consultation with a doctor and an electrocardiogram (ECG) patch for additional monitoring.”

According to the study, of the 419,093 participants, only 0.5% of them received irregular heart notifications and only fifty-seven percent of them sought-out medical attention. While only a small portion of participants received irregular heart notifications, it highlights the feature’s ability to provide users information related to their health at any time.

Apple COO Jeff Williams commented on the announcement: “We are proud to work with Stanford Medicine as they conduct this important research and look forward to learning more about the impact of Apple Watch alongside the medical community.” Williams also added, “We hope consumers will continue to gain useful and actionable information about their heart health through Apple Watch.”