New wearable heart monitor to boost irregular heart rhythm diagnosis

New Delhi : US researchers on Monday announced a new wearable, long-term continuous heart monitor that is likely to identify more cases of irregular heart rhythm -- also known as atrial fibrillation linked to the risk of stroke and heart failure -- compared to usual care.

However, the heart monitors did not lead to a reduction in hospitalisations due to stroke, said the team at the Duke Clinical Research Institute in North Carolina, US.

“Atrial fibrillation is often undiagnosed and can increase the risk of ischemic stroke, which is largely reversible by oral anticoagulation,” said lead author Renato Lopes, Professor of Medicine at the Institute.

“We still need definitive evidence that diagnosis of atrial fibrillation through systematic screening can lead to subsequent treatment with oral anticoagulation and therefore, lower stroke risk,” Lopes said.

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, enrolled approximately 12,000 patients in the US who were at least 70 years old with no history of atrial fibrillation.

About half the patients were randomly assigned to receive 14 days continuous monitoring device, and the other half usual care.

After 15 months of follow-up, the study reported a 52 per cent increase in the number of cases of atrial fibrillation diagnosed among the device-wearers compared to those in usual care.

While there was no increase in rates of hospitalisation for bleeding, no significant reduction was found in the rate of hospitalisations for all strokes compared with usual care.

Heart rate monitors are devices that come with built-in sensors to help detect and track heart or pulse rate continuously. The devices are also available in smartwatches and help in tracking heart rate during exercise, monitoring heart rate for stress, and alerting in case of an anomaly. But these cannot be substitutes for medical devices that are much more accurate.