Over the past few years, smartwatches have come of their own, shedding their awesome pedometer with apps image and evolving into health trackers. Each and every one need to deliver actionable health data whether that means monitoring the blood oxygen content or detecting atrial fibrillation. Samsung has packed loads of sensors into its Galaxy Watch4 and has recently published results of study by demonstrating smartwatch’s efficacy at detecting symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea.
In a study that was conducted by Samsung Medical Center, the Galaxy Watch4 was used to monitor blood oxygen levels of 97 adults with sleep disturbances. Each SpO2 level of the subject was measured with Galaxy Watch and conventional medical equipment by the researchers at the same time. They compared the former’s oxygendesaturation index measurement to the latter’s apnea-hypopnea index. The experiment of Samsung pitted the Galaxy Watch4’s reflectance pulse oximeter’s accuracy against medical-grade transmittance pulse oximeter. The former’s sensor comprises of eight photodiodes sensitive to the changes reflected light.