Detection of sleep apnea via Apple Watch: Feature is activated

This week, Apple has also released a new health function in its computer watch, watchOS 11. Tracking sleep apnea during the night is available on the new Apple Watch Series 10, which is being released on Friday, but also on older models. The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also approved the feature this week.

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China and India not included

The newly updated list of countries that will receive the new feature is long: 150 regions in the world are included at once, including the EU countries, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However, the larger “failures” at first glance are Apple’s more important future market India, the People’s Republic of China (with the exception of Macau and Hong Kong), Australia, Canada and Taiwan – it is still unclear when approval will be granted here.

Commendably, owners of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 (both from 2023) can also use the tracking. Earlier models such as the first generation Ultra or the Series 8 and SE are left out. Sleep apnea detection is part of Apple’s sleep tracking. They first monitor the user’s condition over a certain period of time and can then report whether breathing pauses occur during the night, are “increased” or not. Apple has validated its system in a clinical study and uses “advanced machine learning.”

Why sleep apnea is a problem

Sleep apnea occurs in millions of cases and is unfortunately only rarely realized by those affected. Depending on the severity, short or longer pauses in breathing occur with varying frequency due to physiological factors. Poor oxygen saturation at night can have serious consequences in the long term – from organic damage to an increased susceptibility to dementia to heart attacks. Some sufferers also experience dangerous microsleep during the day. Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are also promoted.

The Apple Watch does not use the blood oxygen sensor, which is the subject of a patent dispute, for its tracking, but rather the watch’s very sensitive acceleration and motion sensor. Data on wrist movements is collected over at least 30 nights. After this, a notification is sent if necessary. Very mild cases of sleep apnea cannot be tracked.

(bsc)