Galaxy Watches gauge body indicators at level of specialized medical devices

The Galaxy Watch series of Samsung Electronics can gauge major indicators of human health with similar accuracy as that of professional medical devices, giving the series a major advantage over Apple Watch, which lacks the function. 

Industry sources on Tuesday said Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University and the University of Hawaii Cancer Center recently released a paper saying the Galaxy Watch 4's assessments of body indicators were highly correlated with those by medical devices.

The study on the accuracy of health assessments by smartwatches appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), a noted academic publication in biology and medicine.

The study contained the results of an experiment by the two universities on 75 people -- 34 male and 41 female – ages 22~55. The Galaxy Watch 4 measured six health indicators -- fat-free mass, fat mass, skeletal muscle mass, basal metabolic rate and total body water – and the results were compared to those by a specialized measuring device. The correlation between each result was a minimum of 93% and maximum of 98%.

Samsung made headlines last year with its release of the Galaxy Watch 4, which can support measurements of a wearer's body like blood pressure and conduct an electrocardiogram through its four electrodes -- two on the side and two on the back.

After fastening the watch, a user presses two fingers on the side button for about 15 seconds. The Samsung BioActive Sensor captures 2,400 data points to measure fat-free mass, skeletal muscle mass and basal metabolic rate. The sensor's measurement accuracy received a boost through the integration into one chipset of photoplethysmogram, electrocardiogram and bioelectric impedance analysis sensors.

Samsung Electronics said its Galaxy Watch 5 series released this year has improved sensor accuracy. As verified by a reporter from The Korea Economic Daily right after its launch, the Galaxy Watch 5 Pro produced a fat-free mass reading of 28%, similar to the 28.5% found by an analysis by InBody, a domestic maker of body composition analyzers and other related medical devices.

Many reviews of the watch thus said it felt liking wearing a mini-InBody on the wrist.

A Samsung Electronics source said, "Galaxy Watch users can easily take their body measurements anytime and anywhere to track their physical constitution and health status," citing as a major feature of the device measurement of major health indicators such as blood pressure, electrocardiogram and blood oxygen level.

Write to Ji-Eun Jeong at jeong@hankyung.com