Abstrakt

There are many available applications for smartphones to measure heart rate (HR) based on a finger pulse wave, without any additional devices. An important feature of the application should be the possibility to detect arrhythmia, especially atrial fibrillation (AF). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of HR measurement applications, available for smartphones, in terms of the reliability of the measurements and the possibilities for arrhythmia detection. From the free applications available on smartphones with the iOS operating system we selected all (N=16), which offer HR measurement and a simultaneous graphical pulse wave recording. The HR was examined in 15 healthy volunteers with a sinus rhythm confirmed in ECG. The next step was to evaluate the reliability of HR measurement in 15 patients with AF. The average difference in the HR was 6% (0.6%-33%), while a difference below 5% was observed in 11 applications. According to our study, the most reliable applications to measure HR in patients with sinus rhythm was Instant Heart Rate by Azumio company. Five most reliable applications have been selected to test in patients with AF. We have chosen this application according to the most reliable HR measurement (<5%), best graphic pulse wave recording and the ability to view the recording at the end of the measurement. Only 1 of 5 applications – Heart Rate from Bump company – had >95% HR compatibility with ECG (the measurement difference was 0.88 %). The majority of the free applications, available for smartphones, are able to measure HR precisely in patients with sinus rhythm, while in patients with AF, the exact measurement is significantly impeded by HR deficits. Only one out of 16 applications was able to measure HR in a patient with AF. None of the available applications could detect AF.

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