Nutex Health Inc (NUTX)

[SolarSon]

The two products are different. Here's an excerpt from the Apple watch write-up...

But we should also be a little cautious about the hype surrounding these features. As even the FDA points out in its summary document, the ECG app isn’t meant to be used in people younger than 22, nor is it recommended for people with other known heart conditions that can disturb your heart rhythm.

In the summary document of the second feature that notifies people of a possible atrial fibrillation, the agency also points out that the app “is not intended to provide a notification on every episode of irregular rhythm suggestive of AFib and the absence of a notification is not intended to indicate no disease process is present.”


That’s a pretty important caveat!

Other wearables such as the Fitbit have endured their share of criticism over their heart rate technology becoming much less accurate when people are actually moving. And while normal ECGs are better at handling movement than the light-based sensors found in other activity trackers, it’s worth studying if their accuracy can degrade when miniaturized into a watch. And aside from not catching every case of AFib, there’s also the worry that users will freak out and rush to their doctors with faulty false positives in hand.



All these concerns shouldn’t detract from the importance of Apple’s announcement. If nothing else, the company’s decision to gain FDA clearance is a meaningful step in someday validating the usefulness of these devices to better our lives (provided you can afford the base $399 cost, of course)—a step that other device manufacturers might need to emulate to stay competitive with Apple. Just don’t expect any miracles from your watch.

The Apple Watch Series 4 is set to go on sale in the U.S. on Friday.