Following on the heels of the approval
granted to Apple Watch Series 4 for ECG screening, the US FDA has now given the
green signal to another wearable mHealth device - the Embrace smart watch.
The Embrace smart watch has been
approved to monitor seizure activity in children as young as age 6. Its use in
adults had been approved last February.
The watch uses advanced machine learning
technology to detect patterns in motion and physiological signals that may be
associated with generalized tonic-clonic seizures. It then immediately alerts
parents and/or the nominated caregivers, via text and phone messages, allowing
them to quickly respond. It also provides sleep, rest, and physical activity
analysis.
Its unique property is its use of
electrodermal activity, a signal used by stress researchers to quantify
physiological changes related to sympathetic nervous system activity, also
known as the "fight or flight" response.
Embrace was tested in an epilepsy
monitoring unit among 141 epilepsy patients, including 80 pediatric patients
ages 6 to 21 years. Overall, 53 of 54 generalized tonic-clonic seizures were
detected by Embrace for an accuracy rate of 98% during the clinical testing.
As the first direct-to-consumer product,
the ECG app on Apple Watch Series 4 helps people to take an ECG right
from their wrist, whenever they experience symptoms such as rapid or missed
heart beat and also share the data with their doctors. The irregular
rhythm notification feature on Apple Watch can now also monitor heart
rhythms in the background and send a notification if an irregular heart rhythm
is detected on five rhythm checks over a minimum of 65 minutes
(Source: Medscape)
Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
President Elect Confederation of Medical
Associations in Asia and Oceania
(CMAAO)
Group Editor-in-Chief IJCP Publications
President Heart Care Foundation of India
Past National President IMA
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