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Alex, I have researched these watches, and bought one to help with my Cardiac Rehab. As far as blood pressure is concerned, they should not be relied on at this time. I still use my automatic Cuff device, but thankfully do not have to check BP very often any more, but if needed its there. An important function to have in a watch is oxygen saturation level, and many have this function now. Oxygen saturation is measured by that little device they clip into your finger in hospital, or in the ambulance. It reports how much oxygen is being carried by your blood stream, and this is an important diagnosis tool. Generally you want your oxygen saturation rate to high, and if It drops below 90% a clinician will put you on supplemental oxygen.
Some smart watches provide ECG function, but it is a gimmick in my opinion as without the multiple leads attached to your chest the best it can do is infer, and potentially scare you. What they do well though is spot arterial tribulation.
The Apple Watch has been improving its health monitoring with each release, and I am considering one. However, my good old Fitzbit does a great job tracking my Cardiac activity, breaks it down into time spend in the various categories, provides constant pulse rate monitoring, etc. The online app that it syncs with presents some wonderful reports, monitors your weekly activity to keep you informed of your exoected targets for your age.
Certainly smart watches are a big growth sector for this technology, and things like fall monitor and remote alerts are going to be important for many people. Just pick something that gives you the data you need to keep track of, and usually doctors have opinions on what might be useful. Cardiologist certsinly do have opinions.You can buy your own finger clip on oxygen saturation device, they are on eBay and pretty cheap, a good investment in my opinion.
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