AliveCor Touts Benefits
Of Smartphone ECG
SAN FRANCISCO —
AliveCor, which markets
a mobile electrocardiogram (ECG)
recorder for smartphones, announced results
from a study that demonstrated the
real-world effectiveness of simple heart-rate
monitoring for users.
The eight-week study, “iPhone Rhythm
Strip: Clinical Implications of Wireless and
Ubiquitous Heart Rate Monitoring,” enrolled
54 participants to determine how they use
the device.
After using the device, 24 percent of subjects
reached out to their private physicians
for a consultation and 16 percent felt that
they discovered a health condition previously
unknown to them. Seventy-five percent of
participants requested continuation of the
device usage after the eight-week study period.
Thirty-three percent felt that they were
more health conscious after participating in
the study and 88 percent thought that the
device was transmitting accurate information.
Participants indicated that they found
the portability, ease of use, and the form factor
to be key aspects of the device that were
most conducive for use.
The AliveCor smartphone ECG incorporates
electrodes into a wireless case that
snaps onto the back of a smartphone, allowing
for wireless single-lead recording of
30-second rhythm strips that are stored securely
in the cloud and the device itself. The
ECGs are wirelessly downloaded for immediate
interpretation using a variety of browsers.
The AliveCor smartphone ECG works
with iOS and Android devices.
The results from the study were presented
at the American College of Cardiology
61st Annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago
by Dr. David Albert, founder and chief medical
officer of AliveCor.
AF Stat Releases
New Smartphone App
WASHINGTON —
AF Stat has released
updates to its AFib Educator, a free smartphone
app and desktop widget designed
to help health care providers better explain
atrial fibrillation (AFib) to their patients.
AFib is the most common form of irregular
heartbeat, affecting an estimated 2.5 million
Americans
The AFib Educator 2.0 visually demonstrates
the importance of the management
strategies of clinical treatment guidelines: rate
control, rhythm control and stroke prevention.
New animations show patients important
potential consequences of AFib, including
stroke risk and heart remodeling. One animation
shows how a blood clot can form and
flow to the brain, causing an AFib-related
stroke; while another illustrates heart remodeling,
in which the heart changes size and
shape as a result of being in AFib over time.
