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Can Mobile Health Devices Detect And Prevent Heart Disease?
 

Wearable fitness trackers have been in the consumer market for quite some time. The latest fitness gadgets can record almost everything, ranging from number of steps walked to sleep quality. Data is usually sent wirelessly to smartphone or cloud for storage. The app that supports the device can then analyze the data collected and report accordingly.

Ongoing evolution has caused the wearables to move from being just fitness and wellness devices to being able to monitor medical conditions, improve diagnosis and care, and ultimately save lives. Thanks to the recent advances in telecommunications, microelectronics, sensor manufacturing and data analysis techniques.

In the past, it is difficult to use sensors and front-end electronics in wearable technology to gather physiological and movement data because of their size. But now, wearable sensors are available at much lower cost and utilized in digital health monitoring systems with miniature circuits, microcontroller functions, front-end amplification and wireless data transmission. Sensors and wearables can be integrated into various accessories like garments, hats, wrist bands, socks, shoes, eyeglasses and other devices such as wristwatches, headphones and smartphones.

Kardia Band, the latest device launched by Alivecor, is integrated with Apple watch. The sensors are put directly onto an Apple Watch band. Users can use it to track and analyze the health of their heart. By placing the thumb on the metal sensor in the watchband, a reading in 30 seconds or other specified period, is taken and sent to the watch over high-frequency audio. It can not only take an electrocardiogram (ECG) of the heart, measuring its electrical activity as it pumps away, but also spot atrial fibrillation (AF). AF is one of the most common forms of abnormal heart rhythm and a major cause of stroke.

Heart disease and stroke are the number one killer in the world, accounting for about 14 million deaths a year. If technology can offer a warning that certain things are going wrong before it is too late, many lives could be saved. Statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that around 130,000 people die a year directly or indirectly from AF, while more than 750,000 must go to hospital in the United States.

Already available for sales in Europe, Kardia Band is still waiting for regulatory approval in the United States. But Alivecor’s smartphone compatible heart monitor, Kardia Mobile with similar functions as Kardia Band, has been available since 2013 and it can be purchased without prescription in the United States and Europe.

Medical experts believe devices like this could potentially save thousands of lives, though this type of so-called event monitors does have limitations. For instance, they will not catch the initiation of an arrhythmia, which has diagnostic value, and they will miss short arrhythmias, too.

Take Kardia mobile for instance, some users found it too sensitive. One may take 2 to 3 attempts to take a solid and clean one-minute ECG. This is because a slight move of body or fingers may get an error or a garbage ECG. Kardia mobile app uses a filter to determine whether one is in AF. The filter is, however, not perfect and it can be inaccurate or misleading. Occasionally the filter may flag possible AF when one is not. Or if someone is not in AF but the ECG is not normal either, the filter will indicate unclassified. Both scenarios could just cause a lot of stress and anxiety to the user. Furthermore, ECG analysis service is not free and is expensive.

New report from Tractica indicates that worldwide shipments for healthcare wearables will increase from 2.5 million in 2016 to 97.6 million units annually by 2021. Obviously, there is great potential for these wearables. But for them to truly succeed, their appropriate use must be recognized and their limitations should be addressed and rectified. Continual improving the functionalities and accuracy and making the devices as affordable as possible is paramount. Otherwise, such devices are simply useless if they cannot offer improvement in patient outcomes.

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