A new study has questioned the impact that wearables are having on arrhythmia sufferers.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, tracked Afib patients, many of which used wearables to keep tabs on their condition.
The study found that 20% of patients experienced “anxiety in response to irregular rhythm notifications” and a similar proportion “routinely contact their doctors when ECG results are abnormal or indicative of possible AF.”
On the one hand, consumer wearables are helping make Afib sufferers aware of a condition that often goes undetected, and causes serious health issues.
However, this study highlights a separate issue. One that’s causing anxiety among diagnosed Afib, and also knock-on effects for health providers, dealing with increased inquiries.
Apple has an automated Afib detection feature called Afib History which tracks Afib events passively and notifies users – but only for those diagnosed with the condition. And it’s that kind of implementation that’s under scrutiny here.
The ever-outspoken Valencell CEO and founder (and friend of Wareable) Steven LeBouef, reacted to the study on LinkedIn:
“While this JAHA article doesn’t flat-out say that arrhythmia-monitoring wearables are freaking out patients and giving physicians information overload…one can certainly read between the lines and infer the authors bemoaning this very thing,” he said.
“My unhumble recommendation is this: If you want to create a new consumer medical wearable, or add medical monitoring to an existing consumer wearable, start first by imagining how your solution will improve health outcomes for patients, make life easier for medical professionals, and reduce lifetime medical costs. If you can’t convince yourself that your proposed solution can soundly address at least 2 of these goals, there’s a good chance that your new measurement trick will be little more than a sales gimmick.”
It shows that there’s still refinement to be done – and that big tech companies creating features aimed at people suffering from specific conditions may need to consider the implications of simple notifications.
