By Bloomberg

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Apple said its hypertension detection system for its smart watch will arrive next week after receiving clearance Thursday from the US Food and Drug Administration.The feature, which was announced at Apple’s most recent product launch event in early September, will be available in 150 countries and regions, including the US, Hong Kong and the European Union. The company previously said it was waiting for approval from the FDA and other regulators.The tool will use data from the Apple Watch’s optical heart sensor to analyze how a user’s blood vessels respond to heartbeats over a 30-day time period, according to Apple. The user will be notified if any signs of chronic hypertension, or high blood pressure, are detected and encouraged to share results with a medical provider.The tool will be available on the Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, Series 11, Ultra 2 and Ultra 3. The update comes as Apple continues to expand its health offerings amid increased competition from other tech companies, including Garmin, Samsung and Oura Health Oy. Apple said the new hypertension feature was developed with advanced machine learning and training data collected from a handful of studies with more than 100,000 participants. About 1.3 billion adults worldwide are affected by hypertension, a primary risk factor for stroke, heart attack and kidney disease that can often be modified with lifestyle and medical interventions.Consumer hardware makers have been adding more sophisticated health tracking tools to their fitness bands and smart watches over the years, often blurring the lines between a wearable gadget and medical device. Whoop Inc., the maker of screen-less fitness bands, is actively pushing back on demands from the FDA to disable its own blood pressure tracking tool. The FDA said the new Whoop MG tracker — short for medical grade — is operating as a medical device but doesn’t have certification for blood pressure tracking.