Apple Watch Likely to Gain BP, Blood Glucose, and Blood Alcohol Monitoring

Re:Apple Watch Likely to Gain BP, Blood Glucose, and Blood A... by random42_ on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:01PM (#27031355)

From the linked article: Apple has been revealed to be the largest customer of the British electronics start-up Rockley Photonics, The Telegraph reports.

Rockley Photonics has developed non-invasive optical sensors for detecting multiple blood-related health metrics, including blood pressure, blood glucose, and blood alcohol levels, many of which are only normally detectable with more invasive dedicated medical equipment. Rockley's sensors beam infrared light through a user's skin, much like the existing sensors on the back of the Apple Watch for detecting heart rate and blood oxygen levels.

Edit: formatting

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Re:Apple Watch Likely to Gain BP, Blood Glucose, and Blood A... by r00fus on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:10PM (#27031471)

This is straight-up tricorder level shit if it pans out. Definitely upgrading from my v4 if that's the case.

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Re:Apple Watch Likely to Gain BP, Blood Glucose, and Blood A... by amelius on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:45PM (#27031857)

This still doesn't explain how it works. Oxygen and heart rate can be done with light, this is well known, but how does it measure glucose and alcohol levels and blood pressure?

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Re:Apple Watch Likely to Gain BP, Blood Glucose, and Blood A... by throwawayboise on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:58PM (#27031990)

If someone is really drunk you can smell the alcohol standing near them. Not sure about glucose but possibly it's detecting chemicals diffusing through the skin or pores?

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Re:Apple Watch Likely to Gain BP, Blood Glucose, and Blood A... by throwaway5752 on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:21PM (#27031575)

It would be very interesting how this would reliably work across a diverse population without some sort of calibration step. I am skeptical, but it is Apple.

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