Researchers have found that smartphones and smartwatches can be used to accurately detect if you're having a heart attack, proving that mobile technology could ultimately be life-saving for people with heart problems.
For the study, researchers tested an app that uses a electrocardiograph (ECG) lead to monitor your heart rate, and found that it was almost as accurate at diagnosing a heart attack as the standard 12-lead ECG used by medical professionals.
“We found the app helped us diagnose heart attacks very effectively – and it didn't indicate the presence of a heart attack when one wasn't occurring,” Dr J. Brent Muhlestein, lead investigator of the study and cardiovascular researcher at the Intermountain Medical Centre Heart Institute, said.
The same technology is also used in Apple's new smartwatch, the Apple Watch 4, which may prove to be even better than an app on your phone, as the watch can monitor your heart rate for longer stretches as you wear it throughout the day.
However, the researchers caution that the Apple 4 smartwatch comes with just a single-lead ECG measuring just one part of the body. A typical ECG monitors heart rates at different parts of the body using 12 leads. This improves the accuracy of a diagnosis because heart attacks happen in different parts of the heart.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has classified the ECG app technology in the Apple Watch – and in similar devices – as a “Class II” device, meaning it is an over-the-counter device that can identify irregular heart rates, but is not intended to provide a medical diagnosis.
The FDA noted that the device can fail to detect heart rate issues if the ECG has a bad signal, and that both false negative and false positives could occur in the software.
Dr Muhlestein says the findings of the study are important for several reasons, for instance because it could mean that patients are quicker to seek treatment – which is essential in cases of a severe heart attack.
According to the American College of Cardiology, the time between entering a hospital and receiving the life-saving procedure to unblock an artery needs to be less than 90 minutes.
Another reason why researchers have hailed the findings is because these apps, such as the AliveCor app used in their test, are very cheap, which means they are more accessible to poorer communities, especially in third-world countries, where finding a medical ECG can be difficult. – dpa
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