Apple Watch, Fitbit users with heart conditions get more medical procedures

"People with irregular heartbeats who use wearable devices like Apple Watches and Fitbits aren’t overwhelming doctors with worried calls about their hearts, a new study shows. But they are more likely to be treated with a heart procedure called an ablation, the analysis found.
The small study is one of the first to show how people with existing heart problems use wearables. Devices like the Apple Watch have a heart-monitoring feature that can alert users if they have an irregular pulse. Technically, those features on the Apple Watch are only authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for people who don’t have underlying heart conditions. But people with heart conditions, including a type of abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation, are still able to buy the watch and use those same features.
Cardiologists regularly see patients who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation bring in data from an Apple Watch or Fitbit, says study author Libo Wang, a cardiology fellow at the University of Utah School of Medicine. “There are a good amount of patients who are using these wearables outside of the FDA cleared indication,” he says. “That was sort of the motivation to start, not raising the alarm, but raising questions..." Lire la suite