Tag: smartwatch

Categories : AgeingTags :

Real-time Data Helps Research on when Older People Fall

On By ModernMedia
Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels

When older people lose their balance, they often struggle to recall the circumstances, making studying this phenomenon challenging. Now, a Virginia Tech study using wrist-worn voice recorders concludes that voice recorders are effective at capturing the circumstances and context in which they lost their balance and potentially fell, without relying on recall later. The findings were recently published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society.

The study, led by Michael Madigan in the College of Engineering, builds on years of his own foundational work and prior research conducted by the University of Michigan Medical School.  “In the past, researchers would ask participants to recall what they were doing when they lost their balance, but memory can be unreliable,” said Madigan. “With this new method, participants record their experiences immediately after an incident, providing much more accurate and detailed information.” 

Real-world insight

In this study, 30 participants, who averaged around 72 years of age, wore voice recorders on their wrists over the course of three weeks, and in the event of balance loss, turned them on to record answers to these key questions: 

  • When and where did the balance loss occur? 
  • What were they doing at the time? 
  • How did they attempt to regain their balance – did they grab a railing, take steps, or sit down? 
  • Why do they think they lost their balance? 
  • Did they fall? 

This immediate, self-reported data was analysed by Madigan and his team. Instead of waiting to meet with researchers after losing their balance, participants could reflect on what happened in the moment. 

“We’re trying to better understand the circumstances in which people lose their balance,” Madigan said. “This process doesn’t require people to think back weeks or months to an incident, especially when memory can be unreliable.” 

Participant experience

Maria Moll, a retired epidemiologist and study participant, found the research particularly meaningful, especially as someone in her 70s who remains physically active. After a friend experienced a fall, Moll became more interested in contributing to balance-loss prevention research. 

“I’ve always been interested in physical fitness and balance, especially as I age,” said Moll. “This study made me more mindful of my movements, particularly during more challenging activities like hiking.” 

The future of real-world data collection

Looking ahead, the team plans to expand the study to larger groups and combine the data with other lab-based measurements. By doing so, they hope to identify individuals who are most at risk of balance loss and develop strategies to proactively address those risks. 

“We want to give clinicians the tools to intervene before a fall occurs,” said Madigan. “This method can provide more reliable, detailed information that helps us understand not just how people lose their balance, but why.” 

Source: Virginia Tech

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease Medical Research & TechnologyTags :

Smartwatch Equals Treadmill Test in Detecting HF

On By ModernMedia

A smartwatch ECG can accurately detect heart failure (HF) in nonclinical environments, according to a study published in Nature Medicine. Researchers analysed Apple Watch ECG recordings with AI to identify patients with ventricular dysfunction. Study participants were able to remotely record their smartwatch ECGs at any time, with the data automatically and securely uploaded to their electronic health records via a smartphone app.

“Currently, we diagnose ventricular dysfunction – a weak heart pump – through an echocardiogram, CT scan or an MRI, but these are expensive, time consuming and at times inaccessible. The ability to diagnose a weak heart pump remotely, from an ECG that a person records using a consumer device, such as a smartwatch, allows a timely identification of this potentially life-threatening disease at massive scale,” says senior study author Paul Friedman, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic.

Ventricular dysfunction might not cause symptoms, but affects about 2% of the population and 9% of people over 60. Symptoms may develop with a low ejection fraction, including shortness of breath, a rapid heart rate and swelling in the legs. Early diagnosis is important because once identified, there are numerous treatments to improve quality of life and decrease the risks of heart failure and death.

Mayo researchers interpreted Apple Watch single-lead ECGs by modifying an earlier algorithm developed for 12-lead ECGs that is proven to detect a low ejection fraction.

While the data are early, the modified AI algorithm using single-lead ECG data had an area under the curve of 0.88 to detect low ejection fraction. By comparison, this measure of accuracy is as good as or slightly better than a medical treadmill diagnostic test.

“These data are encouraging because they show that digital tools allow convenient, inexpensive, scalable screening for important conditions. Through technology, we can remotely gather useful information about a patient’s heart in an accessible way that can meet the needs of people where they are,” says first author Zachi Attia, PhD, the lead AI scientist in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic.

“Building the capability to ingest data from wearable consumer electronics and provide analytic capabilities to prevent disease or improve health remotely in the manner demonstrated by this study can revolutionize health care. Solutions like this not only enable prediction and prevention of problems, but also will eventually help diminish health disparities and the burden on health systems and clinicians,” says co-author Bradley Leibovich, MD, the medical director for the Mayo Clinic Center for Digital Health.

Approximately 420 of the 2454 participants had an echocardiogram within 30 days of logging an Apple Watch ECG in the app. Of those, 16 patients had low ejection fraction confirmed by the echocardiogram, which provided a comparison for accuracy.

Source: Mayo Clinic