An mHealth company is moving ahead with plans to include real-time atrial fibrillation detection in its wearable heart monitoring solution - closing the gap between real-time care management and emergency alerts and enabling care providers to respond more quickly to a life-threatening situation.
San Francisco-based AliveCor recently announced that it has gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for an algorithm that detects AFib, the most common form of cardiac arrhythmia and present in roughly 25 percent of all adults over age 40, making them five times more susceptible to having a stroke. The new smartphone-based tool will enable those using AliveCor's Heart Monitor to instantly know if they're having an AFib attack, which can lead to a stroke.
"People can actually just check their heart anytime they like … and the system itself will automatically detect (AFib) and alert them if there's a problem," Euan Thomson, AliveCor's president and CEO, told mHealth News.
The value of AliveCor's new algorithm lies in the difficulty of detecting AFib. Its symptoms, which include heart palpitations, are hard to spot, and can therefore be ignored or overlooked until a stroke actually occurs. In the past, patients have been hooked up to ECG monitors for extended lengths – often 30 to 60 days – so that doctors could chart heart patterns and look for anomalies.
AliveCor's goal is to put a mobile monitor in the consumer's hands, then provide a real-time link to clinicians.
According to Thomson, AliveCor's platform analyzes a real-time ECG recording for signs of AFib, and alerts the user if one is found. The user then contacts a caregiver and can wirelessly transmit the ECGs for further analysis.
This past April, an Australian study found that AliveCor's technology saves lives and money. The study, in which participants used an AliveCor Heart Monitor to capture 30-to-60-second ECG records and wirelessly send them to cardiologists, revealed 15 previously undiscovered cases of AFib, potentially saving those 15 patients from suffering a stroke. The study also determined that routine screenings with mHealth technology like AliveCor's monitor saves each consumer about $4,000, as measured by Quality Adjusted Life Years, as well as some $20,700 if a stroke is prevented.
"Community screening using the AliveCor Heart Monitor in pharmacies has shown to be both feasible and cost effective in helping physicians identify people with AF, the most common abnormal heart rhythm, which is responsible for a third of all strokes," said Ben Freedman, MD, of the University of Sydney, in a press release issued by AliveCor. "In many cases AF is not known before a stroke, so screening for AF and treating with effective medications could make an impact on reducing the community burden of stroke."
Thomson said AliveCor is collecting hundreds of thousands of ECGs each month, with the goal of building a database of identifiable heart patterns to help clinicians and consumers identify heart issues before they cause problems.
"People need to be able to check their heart health whenever they want to," Freedman said.
