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In all honesty, Blood Ox isn't really that useful. It seems cool but the novelty wears off quickly, especially given that having it switched on does contribute

In all honesty, Blood Ox isn't really that useful. It seems cool but the novelty wears off quickly, especially given that having it switched on does contribute to battery life. I'd say it's only really useful for people that have a particular concern around those levels. Appreciate that this isn't what the article is about, but I don't think it will impact sales too much. Apple now need to go and implement their own Stress or Heart Rate Variability score. That in my mind is a bigger gap.

anonuser123456 3y ago
My cardiologist suggests it’s a good screener for sleep apnea. Not diagnostic, but indicative that a sleep study may be necessary. He screens his patients that wear the watch for levels during sleep. If he sees consistent sub 90s he sends them off to a sleep medicine doc.
- matheusmoreira 3y ago
  SpO2 monitoring is one of the components of polysomnography which is used to diagnose sleep apnea. SpO2 statistics are reported in the polysomnogram: SpO2 minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation. For example, a minimum SpO2 of 70% during sleep indicates your blood is not oxygenating properly for some reason during that period. Doesn't straight up prove it's due to sleep apnea but you can definitely assume it is and be right more often than not. The full polysomnogram also measures air flow, sleep architecture and more.
StimDeck 3y ago
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instagib 3y ago
I have sleep apnea. I bought a $200 very sensitive blood oxygen sensor which measures several times a second if I remember correctly. I tried to bring the case to my doctor that my Cpap machine setup was not working correctly. His criteria is “do you fall down when you walk because you are out of breath. Then you should be concerned about your lungs and you don’t want to be around anyone with issues like that. “ I would welcome HRV tracking but that will require a better sensor or an additional one. The blood oxygen sensor requires 15 seconds of no movement. ECG requires 30 seconds of wearing watch and holding the crown.
- NoPicklez 3y ago
  Currently with Garmin and some other smart devices like Whoop, it monitors HRV using its inbuilt sensors. Whoop and Garmin have developed their own indicative "Stress" indicators, with also a view on HRV and deviations from baselines. I believe the Apple watch does have the capability to monitor HRV as I think its monitored in the Apple health app for Apple watch wearers. HRV I believe is monitored consistently throughout the day and at night.
  - instagib 3y ago
    It displays something on there but “The majority of wrist-worn fitness devices and trackers track your heart rate through your skin. Unfortunately, this means they usually aren't sensitive enough to detect heart rate variability accurately.” HRV is an interesting field. Too high and it can indicate arrhythmia. Too low is also not good. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-rate-variability-hrv https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-r...
    - NoPicklez 3y ago
      I think with all these devices "accurately" is a loose term in the sense that it is accurate enough, but could be better. Wrist based ECG has been determined as accurate enough to wear on your wrist, but isn't as accurate as what you'd get in a hospital. If it is accurate enough, then the particular number isn't necessarily the important, its whether it an measure the same number consistently, then track movements from the baseline. Which is why they often have a % up/down accuracy figure.
- staticman2 3y ago
  >I tried to bring the case to my doctor that my Cpap machine setup was not working correctly. Doesn't the sleep apnea machine itself measure whether you are breathing? If the concern is it may not be accurate, the gold standard is probably an in lab sleep study while wearing the machine, but insurance may not feel it is medically necessary and may not pay.
fnordpiglet 3y ago
When I had covid in very early 2020 I monitored my blood oxygen levels religiously as it declined precipitously and I became more and more ill. Given it was the first outbreak in seattle I was advised to stay away from the hospital unless it dropped to X, at which point they could provide palliative care as there was no treatment or available ventilators. I got very close to X, and did end up with an extended hospital stay and long covid. So - not how useful the blood ox monitor was but it did provide some form of comfort as I skirted with death to see how close I am.
wenc 3y ago
SpO2 (blood oxygen levels) is actually very useful if it's accurate. (Apple's implementation is not super accurate because SpO2 measurement from the wrist is fraught to start with -- it's usually measured from the finger -- and it is biased by skin colors etc.). Prolonged low blood oxygen means insufficient oxygen is being carried to organs and tissues. Apart from sleep apnea, it can make pre-existing conditions worse. My ophthalmologist tells me that chronically low blood oxygen can cause problems to organs like the retina which is sensitive to oxygen deprivation.

anonuser123456 3y ago

My cardiologist suggests it’s a good screener for sleep apnea. Not diagnostic, but indicative that a sleep study may be necessary. He screens his patients that wear the watch for levels during sleep. If he sees consistent sub 90s he sends them off to a sleep medicine doc.

matheusmoreira 3y ago
SpO2 monitoring is one of the components of polysomnography which is used to diagnose sleep apnea. SpO2 statistics are reported in the polysomnogram: SpO2 minimum, maximum, mean, standard deviation. For example, a minimum SpO2 of 70% during sleep indicates your blood is not oxygenating properly for some reason during that period. Doesn't straight up prove it's due to sleep apnea but you can definitely assume it is and be right more often than not. The full polysomnogram also measures air flow, sleep architecture and more.

StimDeck 3y ago

[dead]

instagib 3y ago

I have sleep apnea. I bought a $200 very sensitive blood oxygen sensor which measures several times a second if I remember correctly. I tried to bring the case to my doctor that my Cpap machine setup was not working correctly. His criteria is “do you fall down when you walk because you are out of breath. Then you should be concerned about your lungs and you don’t want to be around anyone with issues like that. “ I would welcome HRV tracking but that will require a better sensor or an additional one. The blood oxygen sensor requires 15 seconds of no movement. ECG requires 30 seconds of wearing watch and holding the crown.

NoPicklez 3y ago
Currently with Garmin and some other smart devices like Whoop, it monitors HRV using its inbuilt sensors. Whoop and Garmin have developed their own indicative "Stress" indicators, with also a view on HRV and deviations from baselines. I believe the Apple watch does have the capability to monitor HRV as I think its monitored in the Apple health app for Apple watch wearers. HRV I believe is monitored consistently throughout the day and at night.
- instagib 3y ago
  It displays something on there but “The majority of wrist-worn fitness devices and trackers track your heart rate through your skin. Unfortunately, this means they usually aren't sensitive enough to detect heart rate variability accurately.” HRV is an interesting field. Too high and it can indicate arrhythmia. Too low is also not good. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-rate-variability-hrv https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/21773-heart-r...
  - NoPicklez 3y ago
    I think with all these devices "accurately" is a loose term in the sense that it is accurate enough, but could be better. Wrist based ECG has been determined as accurate enough to wear on your wrist, but isn't as accurate as what you'd get in a hospital. If it is accurate enough, then the particular number isn't necessarily the important, its whether it an measure the same number consistently, then track movements from the baseline. Which is why they often have a % up/down accuracy figure.
staticman2 3y ago
>I tried to bring the case to my doctor that my Cpap machine setup was not working correctly. Doesn't the sleep apnea machine itself measure whether you are breathing? If the concern is it may not be accurate, the gold standard is probably an in lab sleep study while wearing the machine, but insurance may not feel it is medically necessary and may not pay.

fnordpiglet 3y ago

When I had covid in very early 2020 I monitored my blood oxygen levels religiously as it declined precipitously and I became more and more ill. Given it was the first outbreak in seattle I was advised to stay away from the hospital unless it dropped to X, at which point they could provide palliative care as there was no treatment or available ventilators. I got very close to X, and did end up with an extended hospital stay and long covid. So - not how useful the blood ox monitor was but it did provide some form of comfort as I skirted with death to see how close I am.

wenc 3y ago

SpO2 (blood oxygen levels) is actually very useful if it's accurate. (Apple's implementation is not super accurate because SpO2 measurement from the wrist is fraught to start with -- it's usually measured from the finger -- and it is biased by skin colors etc.). Prolonged low blood oxygen means insufficient oxygen is being carried to organs and tissues. Apart from sleep apnea, it can make pre-existing conditions worse. My ophthalmologist tells me that chronically low blood oxygen can cause problems to organs like the retina which is sensitive to oxygen deprivation.