According to a medical study published a few days ago in Digital Health, Apple has a slight edge when it comes to accuracy of their heart rate sensors.
The purpose of the research was to evaluate the validity of the prescribed exercise intensity. The study is different from other similar research efforts. The focus was on assessing the accuracy, reliability and validity of commercial heart rate sensor measurements.
Wearables often use target heart rate as a tool for exercise intensity. Real-world effort is indicative of variations in heart rate during exercise. Wrist devices use HRmax to determine heart rate zones and other information.
The scientists focused their attention on this. The validity of exercise measurement based on HRmax will be determined. The primary goal was to find out which device was more accurate, the Apple Watch Series 6 or the Forerunner 955.
The study was reviewed by other people. It was evaluated by people with the same competencies as the producers. Quality standards are often ensured by these methods.
The study – evaluting against a 12-lead ECG
Thirty healthy people were recruited to participate in the study. Their number was evenly split between males and females. The participants were told to use the electronically braked cycle ergometer with a face mask to perform ramp exercise tests.
They had three different devices record their heart rate. The gold standard is a 12-lead electrocardiogram, along with the Apple Watch Series 6 on one wrist and the Forerunner 955 on the other.
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When the subjects were exhausted by the exercise protocol, the interval tests for individual subjects were terminated. The lower and upper limits of their heart rate was analyzed during the workout. Resting values were obtained from the average heart rate. HRmax is the highest heart rate a person achieved in the entire exercise test. The heart rate zones were made from this figure.
The results: Apple Watch & Garmin heart rate sensor accuracy quantified
The study showed that the Apple and Garmin devices had better accuracy than the 12-lead electrocardiogram. The first was a tad better. The report authors think that this may be due to the sensor technology used by the two manufacturers.
The Apple Watch uses a combination of green and IR light-emitting diodes to detect blood flow. The other company only uses greed LEDs to track heart rate.
Green LEDs are more resistant to motion interference when it comes to such measurements, but they have limited tissue penetration. The combination of the Apple watch’s sensors may result in better noise suppression and a decrease in error rate according to authors.
The error rate for various heart rate zones was between 1.39% and 1.11%. The Apple Watch Series 6 ranged from a low of 0.91% to a high of 1%. The correlation for vigorous activity between the Apple Watch and the Garmin was less than it was with the other watches.
The absolute error for the Garmin ranged from 1.35 to 2.25. There were values between 1.16 and 1.48 for Apple.
When you consider that both of these are older generation devices, it’s even more impresive. The Forerunner 955 was released a couple of months ago, while Apple is now up to Series 8. Next generation heart rate sensors are found in both of these.
According to the authors, both Apple and Garmin devices can be used for exercise prescription. Future research should be done on this subject to include other populations, according to them. This includes elite ahtletes, the elderly and others who may not have been adequately represented in this study.
Digital Health has more detailed information about this research paper.
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