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ATRIAL FIBRILLATION

The Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation: so what now?

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The Apple Heart Study demonstrates that the Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation inferred from the smartwatch heart-rate sensor with a high positive predictive value. However, we must now contend with many clinically relevant unknowns that were not addressed by the study, such as the ramifications of a false-positive result.

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Fig. 1: Inversion of the conventional workflow of scientific discovery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Gregory M. Marcus

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  1. Gregory M. Marcus
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Correspondence to Gregory M. Marcus.

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Competing interests

G.M.M. has received research funding from Jawbone and Eight and consulting fees as a steering committee member for Johnson & Johnson. He also holds equity as a co-founder of InCarda and is a consultant for InCarda.

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Marcus, G.M. The Apple Watch can detect atrial fibrillation: so what now?. Nat Rev Cardiol 17, 135–136 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-019-0330-y

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