The maker of Australia’s first approved ECG wearable now has a different way to check your heart, and it’ll handle three checks from one device.
It’s important to keep a good check on your health, and wearable gadgets can certainly help there. Whether you rely on a smart band to tell you to get up while you work or a smartwatch to monitor your vitals regularly, there is certainly tech to help you check on your health at certain times.
But some of those certain times are more prescient than others.
Folks who need to regularly use a blood pressure monitor know this more than others, and while the typical blood pressure cuff is ideal for checking the obvious blood pressure, there appears to be more we can do in that area.
Withings has been dabbling with a digital blood pressure monitor for a few years now, even releasing a model that connects to your phone so you can track your results and log them in one place, even sending the results to your doctor if you have to.
Now, in 2021, it’s making the blood pressure monitor a little more interesting, adding technology to let it take a deeper look at your health from the one spot.
The first addition comes by way of an electrocardiograph, also known as an “ECG”. You’ll know this as the heart-rate spiked graph you can see when you’re hooked up at a hospital, and it’s a technology that has been making its way into more wearables.
Last year, Withings even managed to be the first approved wearable ECG in a smartwatch in Australia by the TGA, something you can find in the ScanWatch, beating out the Apple Watch, which was only approved this year.
This year, Withings is throwing the technology into its latest blood pressure monitor, the BPM Core, which can record your ECG while doing the 90 second blood pressure check, and then use a digital stethoscope to listen to the valves of your heart and check whether the blood is flowing with the proper force.
It’s a combination of checks that can happen in less than two minutes, and provide three measurements via the Withings Health Mate app on iOS and Android, which can then be compiled and sent to a doctor if need be, providing a sense on whether you may have atrial fibrillation or heart problems from one check you can do at home.
“Early detection of both AFib and valvular deterioration can literally save and extend lives, but because these conditions are asymptomatic and paroxysmal in their early stages, they can be difficult for physicians and cardiologist to detect during infrequent hospital visits,” said Eric Carreel, President of Withings.
“With Withings BPM Core, we are providing people with an early-warning system to monitor some of the biggest risk factors in cardiovascular health,” he said.
“Early and regular monitoring is key to identifying, preventing and managing heart diseases, the world’s leading cause of mortality, which is why we have created a device that can be used every day in the comfort of your own home.”
The technology looks like a regular blood pressure monitor, but is something that can be used by anyone, with the 90 second check providing a glance on whether you have problems and should see a GP straight away. It won’t diagnose you specifically, but much like how a health-focused smartwatch isn’t going to get you to automatically lose weight, it could send you in the right direction to get the job done.
The Withings BPM Core will be available this week for $399 both at Apple Stores online and in-person across Australia, with availability at JB HiFi to follow in late October.
