Researchers at Stanford University have published a new paper on how Apple Watch can help identify arrhythmia in children and young adults. As reported by MyHealthyApple, those researchers have concluded that “Apple Watch can record arrhythmia events in children, including events not identified on traditionally used ambulatory monitors.”
Of 145 electronic-medical-record identifications of Apple Watch, the study found arrhythmias confirmed in 41 patients, with a mean age of 13.8 ± 3.2 years. Meanwhile, traditional ambulatory cardiac rhythm monitors failed to detect an arrhythmia in 10 (29%) patients.
The full details:
Patients used their Apple Watch for arrhythmia characterization during symptomatic episodes either via a patient-initiated ECG using the Apple Watch ECG App (18 patients, 44%), or the high heart rate notification feature of the Apple Watch ECG App (23 patients, 56%). For 29 (71%) patients, the Apple Watch findings led the care team to pursue a workup resulting in a new arrhythmia diagnosis.
In the remainder of cases, the Apple Watch captured an already known arrhythmia, or recurrence or progression of underlying arrhythmia substrate. In one patient with known congenital complete heart block and a narrow complex escape rhythm, the patient recorded an ECG during symptoms of dizziness that demonstrated a brief slow wide complex escape rhythm.
Of patients who also underwent a workup involving a traditional ambulatory cardiac rhythm monitor, the traditional monitor did not detect an arrhythmia in 10 (29%) patients. These included cases in which patients wore a patch rhythm monitor, a Holter monitor, a 30-day event monitor, or a combination of any of the three. Wear times varied by device, and many patients wore the monitor for greater than a week (up to a month). Two patients (6%) had documented skin reactions to the monitor adhesives.
The full conclusion from the study notes the need for continued comparisons between the Apple Watch and ambulatory cardiac rhythm monitors:
“The Apple Watch can record arrhythmia events in some children. For many patients in this cohort, the Apple Watch findings initiated a workup resulting a new arrhythmia diagnosis, and in some, it recorded arrhythmias that traditional ambulatory monitors did not.
This data demonstrates that consumer wearables such as the Apple Watch may play an important role in arrhythmia diagnosis and surveillance in children. Further studies prospectively comparing the Apple Watch with traditional ambulatory cardiac rhythm monitors are needed to best characterize its diagnostic value in children and further understand how to integrate patient-submitted ambulatory ECG data into clinical practice.”
As it stands today, the Apple Watch’s heart monitoring features are FDA-approved for irregular heartbeat detection in adults over 22 years old. Apple could theoretically choose to seek FDA approval for pediatric use, but as of right now, it has chosen not to do that.
This new study from Stanford University, however, is a positive sign for Apple. You can find the full results in the Communications Medicine journal.
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