Apple Watch saves Delhi woman’s life by detecting high heart rate, prompting AFib diagnosis. She thanks Tim Cook for advanced heart monitoring features.
Another in a series of lives saved by the Apple Watch: Delhi woman escaped what the doctors termed a “close call” after her Apple Watch’s heart rate feature detected her “abnormally high” heart rate and alerted her.
Sneha Sinha, a policy researcher in Delhi, told HT Tech that she had sought medical attention only after her Apple Watch’s ECG feature indicated the onset of Atrial Fibrillation (AFib).
AFib is an irregular and often very rapid heart rhythm. It can lead to blood clots in the heart and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.
Sinha, who had no pre-existing health conditions, said she later emailed Apple CEO Tim Cook to thank him for developing the watch with such “precise and advanced” features and claimed that he reacted promptly.
“As an avid traveller, I hike and trek in high-altitude mountain regions above 15,000-16,000 feet where oxygen levels are often low,” Sinha told HT Tech.
She told HT Tech she had returned home after a usual day when she noticed heart palpitations. She said she used her Apple Watch to monitor it. However, she did not initially take the spike in her heart rate seriously.
“Despite repeated checks and ECGs showing a higher heart rate, I tried deep breathing, hoping it would resolve in sometime. I thought it may have occurred due to some reason and should calm down soon,” she said.
“When it persisted for over 1.5 hours, the ECG indicated the onset of AFib. At that point, I decided to seek medical attention and called a friend to take me to the hospital,” she added.