A hospital in Pittsburgh has become the latest medical center to join a ground-breaking Apple Watch trial in the US that's helping patients with atrial fibrillation ditch blood-thinning medication.
The REACT-AF trial began in July 2023 and is led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Randomized patients (half of the overall participants) wear an Apple Watch for 14 hours a day, paired with an iPhone pre-programmed to monitor irregular heart rhythms.
If patients can go more than 30 days without an episode of erratic heartbeats lasting longer than an hour, they can stop taking their anticoagulant medication.
It's a trial that could transform cardiovascular healthcare, reduce the risks of complications associated with the medication, and save a whole lot of money in the process.
Apple breaks more ground in health
The Allegheny General Hospital recently announced that it was among the nation's top enrollment sites for the trial, and its principal lead on the trial is full of praise for the initiative.
"The purpose of this trial is to better understand how to personalize anticoagulation safely and effectively, especially for patients with isolated atrial fibrillation episodes," Amit Thosani, MD, remarked, noting that blood thinners prescribed to reduce stroke risk in Afib patients is also associated with increased risk of internal bleeding.
As noted, patients monitored can come off blood thinners if they go 30 days without an episode, a benefit keenly felt by Pittsburgh local Arthur Schiebel. “I’m not used to taking all this stuff," he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "I just want to get off all this medication."
After two years of treatment to get Afib under control, Thosani enrolled in the REACT-AF study, and says he has been off his blood-thinning medication since February "with no issues." “I never wore a watch in my life but if this thing will keep me off the medication, I’m wearing it," he said.
Afib tracking is just one of the Apple Watch's suite of health features, which were recently bolstered by the introduction of sleep apnea detection to the best Apple Watch models, the Apple Watch Series 10 and Series 9, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Along with features like Fall and Crash Detection, the Apple Watch is fast becoming an indispensable health-monitoring tool that can help to prevent disease and injury for wearers.
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