Apple Watch credited for saving man's life after alerting him to low heart rates

The Apple Watch Series 7.

The Apple Watch's ECG feature is credited by a man for saving his life.

David Last, aged 54, received the Apple Watch as a birthday gift from his wife in April. After he started wearing it, the ECG feature on the Apple Watch alerted Last to low resting heart rates on almost 3,000 separate occassions.

Compared to the average resting heart rates of 60 to 100 bpm, Last's rates could be as low as 30 bpm. As Last leads an active lifestyle with no family history of heart complications, he ignored the alerts. On the other hand, his wife was concerned and persuaded him to seek medical attention.

An MRI scan followed by a 48-hour ECG uncovered a serious issue; Last had a third-degree heart blockage due to a junction in his heart wearing away. His heart apparently stopped 138 times in 10-second intervals over a two-day period. If the situation had worsened, he could have suffered from sudden cardiac death.

Last had surgery and received a pacemaker to monitor for abnormal rhythms in August. He thanked his wife for getting the Apple Watch and "wil always be eternally grateful to her for it".

The ECG feature is currently available on the Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, Series 6 and Series 7. The Apple Watch has saved lives over the past few years where it alerted users to heartbeat irregularity and abnormally high heart rates.

Source: Independent via Apple Insider