Korean Circ J.  2019 May;49(5):437-445. 10.4070/kcj.2018.0323.

Assessing Accuracy of Wrist-Worn Wearable Devices in Measurement of Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia Heart Rate

• Hwang J
• Kim J
• Choi KJ
• Cho MS
• Nam GB
• Kim YH

• KMID: 2444963
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.2018.0323

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Wrist-worn wearable devices provide heart rate (HR) monitoring function via photoplethysmography technology. Recently, these devices have been used by patients to measure the HR when palpitation occurs, but few validation studies of these instruments have been conducted. We assessed the accuracy of these devices for measuring a HR.
METHODS
This study enrolled 51 consecutive patients with a history of paroxysmal supraventricular tachyarrhythmia (SVT) or paroxysmal palpitations who were scheduled to undergo an electrophysiological study (EPS). Three devices were assessed: Apple Watch Series 2 (Apple), Samsung Galaxy Gear S3 (Galaxy), and Fitbit Charge 2 (Fitbit). Patients were randomly assigned to wear 2 different devices. The HR at baseline and induced SVT were measured during the EPS. After successful ablation of SVT, HR measurements was also done during atrial and ventricular pacing study.
RESULTS
The mean patient age was 44.4±16.6 years and 27 patients were male (53%). The accuracy (within ±5 beats per minute [bpm] of an electrocardiogram [ECG] measurement) of the baseline HR measurements was 100%, 100%, and 94%, for Apple, Galaxy, and Fitbit, respectively. The HR during induced SVT ranged from 108 bpm to 228 bpm and the accuracy (within ±10 bpm of an ECG) was 100%, 90%, and 87% for the Apple, Galaxy, and Fitbit, respectively. During pacing study, accuracy of these devices was also acceptable but tended to decrease as the HR increased, and showed differences between the devices.
CONCLUSIONS
Wrist-worn wearable devices accurately measure baseline and induced SVT HR. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinical Research Information Service Identifier: KCT0002282

Keyword

Heart rate; Photoplethysmography; Tachyarrhythmia

MeSH Terms

Electrocardiography
Galaxies
Heart Rate*
Heart*
Humans
Information Services
Male
Photoplethysmography
Tachycardia
Tachycardia, Supraventricular*

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Bland-Altman plots. This figure shows Bland-Altman plots of wrist-worn wearable device measured versus electrocardiography measured supraventricular tachycardia heart rate. The 95% limits of agreement and ICC were also shown. In all 3 devices, the mean difference was about 0 and most of the measurements were within 95% degree of agreements. The ICCs of devices were also high. CI = confidence interval; ICC = intraclass correlation coefficient.

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