The Apple Watch helps AFib patients avoid blood thinners in a groundbreaking study
A hospital in Pittsburgh has become the latest medical center to participate in a groundbreaking Apple Watch study in the US that is helping patients with atrial fibrillation get off blood-thinning medications.
The REACT-AF study began in July 2023 and is led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Randomized patients (half of all participants) wear an Apple Watch 14 hours a day, linked to an iPhone that is pre-programmed to monitor irregular heart rhythms.
If patients can go more than 30 days without an episode of irregular heartbeat lasting more than an hour, they can stop taking their anticoagulation medications.
It’s a trial that could transform cardiovascular health care, reducing the risks of complications associated with the medication and saving a lot of money in the process.
Apple is pioneering in the field of health
Allegheny General Hospital recently announced that it was one of the best enrollment locations in the country for the trial, and that the key leadership in the trial is full of praise for the initiative.
“The goal of this study is to better understand how to safely and effectively personalize anticoagulation, especially for patients with isolated atrial fibrillation episodes,” said Amit Thosani, MD, noting that blood thinners prescribed to reduce the risk stroke in Afib patients are also associated with an increased risk of internal bleeding.
As noted, the monitored patients can come off blood thinners if they don’t have an episode for 30 days, a benefit clearly experienced by Pittsburgh local Arthur Schiebel. “I’m not used to carrying all this stuff,” he told the newspaper Pittsburgh Post-Gazette“I just want to get off all these medications.”
After two years of treatment to control Afib, Thosani enrolled in the REACT-AF study and says he has been off his blood-thinning medication since February “without any problems.” “I’ve never worn a watch in my life, but if this thing keeps me off the medication, I’ll wear it,” he said.
Afib tracking is just one of the Apple Watch’s health features, recently boosted with the introduction of sleep apnea detection on the top Apple Watch models, the Apple Watch Series 10 and Series 9, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Along with Thanks With features like fall and crash detection, the Apple Watch is quickly becoming an indispensable health monitoring tool that can help prevent illness and injury in wearers.
