Opportunistically Detecting Signs of Hypertension on a Consumer Smartwatch.

AI-PPG-ACC-HTN using a consumer smartwatch detects hypertension against 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring with 65.8% sensitivity and 90.0% specificity in 196 participants.

• Why it matters: Many adults with hypertension are unaware of their condition, limiting early intervention and increasing risk of major cardiovascular events.
• What they did: The team applied artificial intelligence to multimodal photoplethysmography and accelerometry waveforms from a consumer smartwatch without cuff calibration, validating in a prospective multicenter study versus gold-standard 24-hour ambulatory monitoring.
• The result: Over seven days, AI-PPG-ACC-HTN achieved sensitivity 65.8% (95% CI, 54.0%-76.3%), specificity 90.0% (95% CI, 83.2%-94.7%), and PPV 80.6% (95% CI, 68.6%-89.6%), comparable to office screening.

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