What you need to know
- A research team at the Samsung Medical Center has found that the Galaxy Watch's blood pressure monitoring feature can help Parkinson's disease patients manage orthostatic hypotension (OH).
- OH is a form of low blood pressure that is common among PD patients.
- Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4, Galaxy Watch 3, and Galaxy Watch Active 2 models are capable of monitoring users' blood pressure through pulse wave analysis.
Samsung Medical Center's research has shown that patients with Parkinson's disease can manage orthostatic hypotension more easily using the blood pressure monitoring feature available on Samsung's best smartwatches.
Orthostatic hypotension is a form of low blood pressure caused by a change in posture, such as standing up from sitting down. It can greatly increase the risk of falls among Parkinson's disease patients. In addition to managing orthostatic hypotension, the study claims regularly measuring blood pressure can also help detect critical fluctuations for managing Parkinson's disease.
The research team conducted the test on 56 patients with Parkinson's disease, using a sphygmomanometer on one arm and Samsung's Galaxy Watch 3 on the other. They measured the blood pressure of the patients with both devices three times.
The findings revealed that blood pressure measured by the smartwatch and the sphygmomanometer were "comparable," with a deviation of 0.4 ± 4.6 mmHg for systolic BP and 1.1 ± 4.5 mmHg for diastolic BP.
The study, titled "Validation of Blood Pressure Measurement using a Smartwatch in Patients with Parkinson's Disease," has been published in the leading medical journal Frontiers in Neurology.
Samsung's Galaxy Watch Active 2, Galaxy Watch 3, and the latest Galaxy Watch 4 series use heart rate monitoring sensors to monitor blood pressure through pulse wave analysis. However, the feature is yet to be enabled for Galaxy Watch 4 users in the U.S.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 4
Samsung's Wear OS 3-powered Galaxy Watch 4 offers great performance, long-lasting battery life, and a number of useful health tracking features. It is also solidly built and has a MIL-STD-810G rating.
