A person checking their smartwatch looking like they are doing exercise
A person checking their smartwatch looking like they are doing exercise - Wearable devices such as smart watches could be used to detect a higher risk of developing heart failure and irregular heart rhythms in later life, suggests a new study led by UCL researchers. The peer-reviewed study, published in The European Heart Journal - Digital Health , looked at data from 83,000 people who had undergone a 15-second electrocardiogram (ECG) comparable to the kind carried out using smart watches and phone devices. The researchers identified ECG recordings containing extra heart beats which are usually benign but, if they occur frequently, are linked to conditions such as heart failure and arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats). They found that people with an extra beat in this short recording (one in 25 of the total) had a twofold risk of developing heart failure or a condition called atrial fibrillation over the next 10 years. The ECG recordings analysed were from people aged 50 to 70 who had no known cardiovascular disease at the time. Lead author Dr Michele Orini (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science) said: "Our study suggests that ECGs from consumer-grade wearable devices may help with detecting and preventing future heart disease. "The next step is to revalidate these results using an independent data set and, if they are confirmed, to investigate how screening using wearables might best work in practice.
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