Wearables and the Evolution of Arrhythmia Detection

Wearable devices have the potential to become truly disruptive in our healthcare sector, with large segments of the population soon to have readily available health data. 

The wearable technology market was valued at USD 15.74 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 51.60 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 15.51% between 2016 to 2022. With more than 2 million people in the UK experiencing arrhythmias or heart problems each year and an estimated 33.5 million people worldwide experiencing atrial fibrillation, the need for detection and management of this disease is crucial.

‘During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast (tachycardia), too slowly (bradycardia), or with an irregular rhythm (atrial fibrillation or flutter).’

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Whilst most people with this condition will lead a healthy life,  according to the American Heart Association, if you have arrhythmia, you’re 5 times more likely to have a stroke than someone who doesn’t have it. Failure to detect an underlying arrhythmia could be catastrophic. Arrhythmias may have no symptoms and cause your heart to beat out of sync putting your health at risk. Some of tech’s biggest names believe arrhythmias could be managed with wearable technology, sophisticated data analytics and machine learning. Continuous monitoring, even after initial detection, is crucial.  It ensures that treatments are successful and helps to identify if the condition is worsening.

1st – 7th June 2020 is World Heart Rhythm Week, coordinated by Arrhythmia Alliance. The purpose of this week is to emphasise how important it is to know and understand our heart rhythms.

Arrhythmia & COVID-19
June 3, 2020: With 6.4 million cases of COVID-19 globally, there are growing concerns over the relationship between COVID-19 and arrhythmias.

A JAMA Study found that 16.7% of COVID-19 patients developed arrhythmia whilst infected.
JAMA Study

Whilst it doesn’t affect the likelihood of contracting the virus, for those with existing arrhythmias, the symptoms have been shown to be more dangerous.  This highlights the opportunity wearable devices have in providing a solution that people can use to monitor for an arrhythmia.

HeartKey® Arrhythmia Check
According to a Pew Research Centre survey, 1 in 5 US adults regularly wear a smartwatch or wearable fitness tracker. Combining the increased use of innovative technology amongst the general population with a heightened awareness for heart health monitoring, opens the door for technology such as B-Secur’s HeartKey® to radically improve peoples’ lives.

The NHS states, ‘the most effective way to diagnose an arrhythmia is with an electrical recording of your heart rhythm called an electrocardiogram (ECG).’

HeartKey® can empower a wide range of devices, including next generation wearables, with an embedded real time, low memory ECG solution which can detect various arrhythmias, while also performing a medically accurate health and wellness check. This enables a hospital at home solution for your next generation smartwatch and many other devices.

Replace multiple trips to the hospital and hours in the waiting room with a HeartKey® integrated remote monitoring solution, allowing you do to an arrhythmia check anytime, anywhere.

HeartKey® Arrhythmia Data Collection
B-Secur has a close relationship with The Government of Jersey General Hospital led by Dr Andrew Mitchell, a Consultant Cardiologist, and a global expert on atrial fibrillation. Currently, B-Secur are undertaking a number of studies, including validation of the arrhythmia algorithms.

To find out how to deploy HeartKey® in your device, contact sales@b-secur.com