Thanks to the Apple Watch, a pregnant mother was diagnosed with a heart problem, and the smartwatch saved two lives.
Apple Watch Saved Pregnant Mother and Her Baby
This time, Apple’s smartwatch saved not one life, but two. The Apple Watch detected a heart problem in American Rachel Manalo. She was pregnant with her daughter at the time.
Manalo had been experiencing an accelerated heart rate since around the 18th week of her pregnancy. When she noticed it happening more and more often, she knew it could be an underlying problem. She is a pediatric cardiologist by profession, so she knows more about the heart than most people.
When she was 33 weeks pregnant, her elevated heart rate continued to persist. She then made a film of her heart with her Apple Watch. An ECG (electrocardiogram) is a heart film that you can make on the Apple Watch Series 4 and later. By watching this film, a doctor can get an image of your heart rhythm and see if there are any irregularities.
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When she did an ECG with her Apple Watch, she got the result ‘Inconclusive’. According to Manalo, you should always visit a doctor with this. Instead of the normal 60-100 beats per minute, her heart rate was around 150. And that for more than 40 minutes.
She then went to the hospital where the doctor said that this kind of heart problem can trigger a heart attack if no treatment is started. She also said that smart devices like an Apple Watch, Fitbit or OURA ring can be a valuable source of information (about the heart, among other things) for doctors. So the Apple Watch indirectly saved her life.
She turned out to be suffering from ‘ventricular tachycardia’. This condition causes a heart rhythm disorder in the heart chambers, which causes an increased heart rate. In addition, her heart was of course working doubly hard for her baby.
During week 34 of her pregnancy, her daughter was born by caesarean section. After her pregnancy, Manalo was given medication to treat her heart problem and underwent surgery.
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