Stanford-Apple Team Up For Heart Study of 400,000 Participants

PALO ALTO, CA -- Two mega Silicon Valley organizations have joined forces to study whether technology may assist in detecting heart abnormalities. The research project between Stanford Medicine and Apple will use more than 400,000 people.

Researchers at Stanford Medicine, in collaboration with Apple, launched the Apple Heart Study a year ago. It optimized an optical sensor on the Apple Watch to identify such conditions as atrial fibrillations and other heart-rhythm disorders.

Each year, atrial fibrillation kills 130,000 Americans and hospitalizes 750,000.

The study has entered its final phase of data collection and will be completed next year, according to Stanford researchers.

"We now have access to high quality sensors that can measure and detect changes in our bodies in entirely new and insightful ways without even needing to go to the doctor, but we need to rigorously evaluate them," said Mintu Turakhia, Stanford's associate professor of cardiovascular medicine.

Apple executives praised the study as "novel" and expressed enthusiasm about taking part.

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