Researchers developed an artificial intelligence system that detects hypertension using data from a consumer smartwatch, without requiring blood pressure cuff calibration. The system, called AI-PPG-ACC-HTN, analyzes photoplethysmography and accelerometry readings from the watch.
A prospective multicenter study tested the system in 196 participants without known cardiovascular disease or antihypertensive medication use. Researchers compared the smartwatch results against gold-standard 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring over seven days of real-world use.
The smartwatch system detected hypertension with 65.8% sensitivity, 90.0% specificity, and a positive predictive value of 80.6%. By comparison, initial office blood pressure screening achieved 55.3% sensitivity, 90.0% specificity, and 77.8% positive predictive value.
The researchers note that over half of adults with hypertension remain unaware of their condition, and early intervention prevents major adverse cardiovascular events. They propose that smartwatches could serve as a screening tool to identify at-risk individuals and direct them toward clinical assessment using traditional cuff-based methods for diagnosis confirmation.