02/10/2026
Great study out of JAMA yesterday. Looks like Apple's smartwatch isn't quite there yet for blood pressure screening. Only about 41 out of 100 people with undiagnosed high blood pressure actually received an alert. And about 8 out of 100 people received alerts when their blood pressure was NOT high. Blood pressure cuffs are still best for now. If you're interested in getting one that's been independently tested, I always recommend the Omron Bronze — but you can check out validatebp.org for other options!
Non-affiliated Amazon link for Omron Bronze: https://a.co/d/03aq0HLN
The US Food and Drug Administration recently cleared the Apple Watch notification feature. Researchers applied performance metrics reported by Apple to nationally representative survey data and found that, overall, 69% of individuals who receive a smartwatch alert would have hypertension, while 79% of those who do not receive an alert would not have hypertension. However, these rates vary according to subgroup characteristics, such as age and s*x.
Current guidelines recommend cuff-based blood pressure measurement as the standard for diagnosing hypertension. Incorporating cuffless device technologies into public health screening efforts will require additional validation and careful attention to device accuracy to reduce misclassification and the risk of false reassurance.
https://bit.ly/4aEBbUQ
