This week, Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Rachel Kaplan about using smartwatches to help detect atrial fibrillation. Dr. Kaplan is an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine and a cardiac electrophysiologist, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders at MUSC.
TRANSCRIPT:
Conner: I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio with Health Focus here at the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Many individuals with heart rhythm issues are now using wearable devices like smartwatches to monitor their heart. Doctor Rachel Kaplan is here to talk about wearable devices to detect atrial fibrillation or AFib. Doctor Kaplan is an Assistant Professor in the College of Medicine, and she's a cardiac electrophysiologist specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of heart rhythm disorders at MUSC. Doctor Kaplan, tell us what types of wearable devices are on the market for detecting heart rhythm issues.
Dr. Kaplan: Thanks for having me, Bobbi. There are devices that are just for detection of heart rhythms, such as the cardio mobile device, which is a card shaped device that one holds to do an EKG for 30 seconds. And more commonly, there are smartwatches that are made from a variety of different companies. They typically pair with your phone, and a lot of people buy those for a variety of reasons, but they also have the ability to detect irregularity in the heart rate.
Conner: And what type of heart rhythms do smartwatches detect.
Dr. Kaplan: To answer that, I think I have to tell you a little bit about how these smartwatches work to monitor the pulse. These devices have two aspects of analyzing the heart rhythm. One is that the smartwatches are constantly detecting for your pulse. That's what that little green led that you see shining on your wrist does. And these companies have developed algorithms to assess for how regular or irregular the pulse is in a period of time. They also have the ability for you to affirmatively do a 30 second EKG strip on your watch, but that requires you to open the app, hold your other hand to the device, and hold still for 30 seconds. And so, most of what these devices are doing on a regular basis is passively assessing for the regularity of your pulse. And that is how they then can report that your pulse is irregular, which is often a sign of atrial fibrillation.
Conner: What should a person do if their smartwatch actually sends an alert for possible atrial fibrillation?
Dr. Kaplan: So, the first thing I'd recommend somebody do is to then open the EKG app on the watch and do the EKG. And that's because the system for assessing the irregularity of the pulse can produce false positive and false negative results. So, after they confirm that by doing the EKG on their watch, if this is a new diagnosis for them, someone who's never been told they have atrial fibrillation before, they should reach out to their primary care doctor. And oftentimes the primary care doctor may want to send them a medical grade monitor to wear or bring them in for a full EKG to confirm the diagnosis.
Conner: And from your perspective, what do you see as the role in the future for smartwatches, for heart rhythm issues?
Dr. Kaplan: The smartwatches and other wearable devices are the wave of the future of incorporating technology with medical care and in providing information directly to patients where they see the result on their watch rather than going through another system. These devices will continue to evolve, and how we work together with patients to utilize them will continue to change over time.
Conner: Doctor Kaplan, thanks for talking with us about wearable devices and atrial fibrillation.
Dr. Kaplan: You're welcome Bobbi. Always a pleasure.
Conner: From the radio studio for the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, I'm Bobbi Conner for South Carolina Public Radio.
Health Focus transcripts are intended to accurately represent the original audio version of the program; however, some discrepancies or inaccuracies may exist. The audio format serves as the official record of Health Focus programming.
