Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

The Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation: so what now?

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 17, pages 135–136 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

The Apple Heart Study demonstrates that the Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation inferred from the smartwatch heart-rate sensor with a high positive predictive value. However, we must now contend with many clinically relevant unknowns that were not addressed by the study, such as the ramifications of a false-positive result.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Inversion of the conventional workflow of scientific discovery.

References

  1. January, C. T. et al. 2019 AHA/ACC/HRS focused update of the 2014 AHA/ACC/HRS guideline for the management of patients with atrial fibrillation: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on clinical practice guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society in collaboration with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Circulation 140, e125–e151 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Benjamin, E. J. et al. Heart disease and stroke statistics-2017 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation 135, e146–e603 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Tison, G. H. et al. Passive detection of atrial fibrillation using a commercially available smartwatch. JAMA Cardiol. 3, 409–416 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Perez, M. V. et al. Large-scale assessment of a smartwatch to identify atrial fibrillation. N. Engl. J. Med. 381, 1909–1917 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. US Preventive Services Task Force et al. Screening for atrial fibrillation with electrocardiography: US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. JAMA 320, 478–484 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Mandyam, M. C. et al. The QT interval and risk of incident atrial fibrillation. Heart Rhythm 10, 1562–1568 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Schnabel, R. B. et al. Development of a risk score for atrial fibrillation (Framingham Heart Study): a community-based cohort study. Lancet 373, 739–745 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Topol, E. J. High-performance medicine: the convergence of human and artificial intelligence. Nat. Med. 25, 44–56 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Hannun, A. Y. et al. Cardiologist-level arrhythmia detection and classification in ambulatory electrocardiograms using a deep neural network. Nat. Med. 25, 65–69 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Gregory M. Marcus

Authors
  1. Gregory M. Marcus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory M. Marcus.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

G.M.M. has received research funding from Jawbone and Eight and consulting fees as a steering committee member for Johnson & Johnson. He also holds equity as a co-founder of InCarda and is a consultant for InCarda.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Marcus, G.M. The Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation: so what now?. Nat Rev Cardiol 17, 135–136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-019-0330-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-019-0330-y

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing