As noted by MacRumors, Apple is bringing its sleep apnea detection feature to more countries in Europe, Asia, and South America.
They are: Argentina, Australia, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Ecuador, Heard and McDonald Islands, Honduras, Indonesia, Moldov, Norfolk IslanSerbia, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, and Vietnam.
Sleep apnea is a serious disorder that causes repetitive episodes of breathing pauses during sleep. It is estimated that this condition affects more than a billion people worldwide and, in most cases, is not diagnosed. If left untreated, sleep apnea can have serious health consequences, such as a higher risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes and heart problems.
To detect sleep apnea, the Apple Watch uses the accelerometer to record small wrist movements during sleep associated with interruptions in normal breathing patterns. This monitoring is done with the new Apple Watch metric called Respiratory Disorders.
Even if some of these changes are considered normal, it is important to follow up, since they help evaluate the quality of sleep and, if they occur frequently on several nights, may be associated with sleep apnea. Nocturnal Respiratory Disorders are recorded in the Health app on iPhone and iPad and classified as high or low. These records can be consulted for periods of one month, six months or one year.
