Starting today, Apple has launched a new feature of the Apple Watch in mainland China to help users identify signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea.
The tech giant has obtained a medical device registration certificate 1 approved by the National Drug Administration (NMPA) for the mobile sleep apnea symptom prompting software. The Apple Watch uses accelerometers to monitor subtle movements on the user’s wrist related to the interruption of normal breathing rhythm, converting these signals into a new Apple Watch indicator called “breathing disorders.”
Users can view nightly respiratory disorder data in the Health app on an iPhone and iPad. These data will be classified as “up” or “not up” and can be viewed by month, six months or one year.
The system will analyze the respiratory disorder data every 30 days. If the data shows persistent signs of moderate to severe sleep apnea, the user will be notified to discuss the next steps with the doctor, including possible diagnosis and treatment.
The notice contains a period of time when sleep apnea may occur, educational materials on the importance of seeking treatment, and a PDF document that provides three months of respiratory disorder data, notification details and other information for users to refer to when communicating with health care providers.
Apple says the sleep apnea symptom prompt function is developed using algorithms based on deep learning and a large number of clinical-level sleep apnea test data sets. This function has been verified in a clinical study.
