It looks like US regulators are currently examining Apple's disclosures about CEO Steve Jobs' health problems in order to ensure investors weren't misled. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) review does not mean investigators have seen evidence of wrongdoing.

Last week, Jobs was considering a liver transplant as a result of complications after treatment for cancer. He announced he would take a five-month leave of absence because his health-related issues are more complex than he originally thought. As a result of this announcement, shares of Apple have fallen more than 8%.

Jobs also said earlier this month that he had been diagnosed with a hormone imbalance which sent shares higher. Both Apple and SEC spokesmen declined to comment on the issue. Apple investors have been pressing for information on Jobs' health since June, when he appeared noticeably thinner at an Apple event.

SEC will probably have to show the company tried to benefit by withholding information about an unambiguous diagnosis, but this is clearly a new area of the law. The shareholders' interest in Jobs is unusually high, and that's because he is considered synonymous with Apple. He returned as CEO in 1997, turning the unprofitable makes of Macintosh computers into a successful consumer-electronics company. It's clear for everyone: if Jobs leaves, Apple's sales will decline.

However, some say the board isn't obligated to provide specific details about the nature of Jobs' illness. In the past year, SEC has been intensely criticized by lawmakers, investors and its own inspector general as lacking aggressiveness and being deferential to companies, so it remains to be seen if they will take the right decision in this case.