Smartwatches and fitness devices could trigger a heart attack in vulnerable patients

In our age of high technology wearable devicesLike smartwatches, they have proven to be invaluable companions for health conscious people, but can trigger a heart attack in some vulnerable patients.

A University of Utah study shows that for a small group of people, some of these electronic devices can be hazardous to health, even life-threatening.

Researchers have published a new study showing that wearable devices such as samsung galaxy watch 4smart scales Fitbit or smart rings mood metricamong other things, have detection technology that may interfere with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED), such as pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices.

“This study is alarming”, says Benjamin Sanchez Terrones, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah and co-author of the study. “We have done this work through simulations and bench tests in accordance with the guidelines adopted by the Food and Drug Administration, and these devices interfere with the proper functioning of the CIED what we tried,” he adds.

These are smart watches, scales and smart rings that use bioimpedance, a type of sensor technology that emits a very weak electrical currentimperceptible ae (measured in microamps) in the body.

On smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or the Fitbit Aria 2 smart scale, electric current passes through the body and the sensor measures the response to determine the human body composition, such as skeletal muscle mass or fat mass. In the case of smart rings, such as the Moodmetric smart ring, bioimpedance measurement technology is used to measure a person’s stress level.

After running extensive bioimpedance tests on three heart CRT devices from manufacturers Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Abbott, Sanchez Terrones’ team found that weak electrical currents from these portable devices can interfere with and sometimes confuse implanted cardiac devices. work incorrectly.

Harm of these devices

When pacemakerwhich sends weak electrical impulses to the heart when it beats too slowly, tiny electrical current from bioimpedance can trick the heart making you believe it’s beating fast enough without letting the pacemaker do its job when it’s supposed to.

“We have patients whose lives depend on pacemakers,” says Benjamin Steinberg, a cardiologist-electrophysiologist at the University of Utah. “If the pacemaker is confused by interference, it may stop working for the duration of the interference. If this interference continues, the patient may lose consciousness or worse.”

When other types of medical devices such as defibrillators implanted cardioverters that not only act as a pacemaker but can also shock the heart by restoring a regular heart rhythm, a wearable bioimpedance device can trick a defibrillator into causing unnecessary electrical shock to the patient, which can be painful.

Nearly all, if not all, implantable cardiac devices already warn patients about the possibility of interference with the operation of various electronic devices due to magnetic fields, such as when carrying a mobile phone in a breast pocket next to a pacemaker. But Sanchez-Terrones claims that for the first time, the study found problems with the device’s bioimpedance detection technology.

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