Apple Watch Sleep Apnea Notifications Now Available in Brazil

Tuesday December 17, 2024 8:36 am PST by Eric Slivka

Apple today announced that the Apple Watch feature to help identify sleep apnea is now available in Brazil following the granting of a license from the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency.

sleep apnea detection apple watch
The feature, which is now available in over 150 countries and regions, uses the Apple Watch's accelerometer to record wrist movements associated with interruptions in normal breathing patterns during sleep.

Based on the data collected, the feature assesses each day whether your levels of breathing disturbances are elevated or not elevated, and if over a 30-day period it determines the frequency of your elevated disturbances reaches a threshold, you will receive a notification of possible sleep apnea. The notification is not a diagnosis, but it does provide information to help you discuss the situation with a healthcare provider.

The algorithm uses machine learning trained on clinically validated sleep data, with Apple's feature then validated in its own clinical study, which found that 100 percent of study participants who received a positive result from the algorithm indeed had at least mild sleep apnea.

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Top Rated Comments

WarmWinterHat

24 months ago

When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea 7-8 years ago, I was alerted to the possibility by my dentist. Then I went to my PCP who referred me to a sleep specialist. He sent me to a special sleep center where they put electrodes all over my head and had me sleep in a clinical setting. Then I had to go back to the sleep specialist. This all took months and many dollars. The fact that much of this can be streamlined by a product that many people already have is awesome!

This doesn't replace sleep studies; it alerts you that it might be an issue. The only way to know for sure is closely watch O2 levels and brain-wave data, hence the electrodes. Sleep studies are sometimes done at home now, but someone still comes to your place to configure and fit the monitoring gear, or sends your home with a simpler monitoring setup. It depends on the situation.

Talk to your physician for an actual diagnosis.

Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Westside guy

24 months ago

Now I hear they do home studies that require far less equipment, with lesser results of course but to your point if some can get a basic alert from the watch that is great.

I had a cardiologist referred me for a home sleep study. The sleep doc insisted on a full study in his sleep center. I was so covered with wires (with goo in my hair and everywhere), in an unfamiliar bed, etc. that I could never get comfortable and slept less than hour the entire night... they eventually told me to just go home about 3:30AM. And the dude diagnosed me with bunch of garbage like "restless leg" - yeah my legs were restless because there were two wires running down the legs of my pajamas! My wife rolled her eyes at some of what the guy claimed.

The apnea diagnosis was correct, but they'd have gotten that from a home study just as well.

A home sleep study may measure fewer parameters - but, in my opinion, it probably gives them better insight into your actual sleep.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

SAIRUS

24 months ago

Looks at price of Apple products in Brazil….starts to lose sleep over it.

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dwaltwhit

24 months ago

When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea 7-8 years ago, I was alerted to the possibility by my dentist. Then I went to my PCP who referred me to a sleep specialist. He sent me to a special sleep center where they put electrodes all over my head and had me sleep in a clinical setting. Then I had to go back to the sleep specialist. This all took months and many dollars. The fact that much of this can be streamlined by a product that many people already have is awesome!

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

svish

24 months ago

Good to see it available in yet another region. This feature seems like it is available in a many markets but disappointing to see that it is not available in my country. Hopefully it is coming soon

Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)