iWatch v Kardia v 12 lead ECG

[CDreamer]

There have been a few posts recently about mobile monitoring and I just came across this article which I though explained very well the usefulness of all 3 and how they differ.

cnet.com/health/apple-watch...

[Padayn01]

Good Article

[Physalis]

It doesn't mention that older people are buying the watch for its fall detect function. That's why I bought it. Fortunately I haven't had to use it.

I knew I had AFib but the watch brought it into fine focus. With me it wasn't a case of sending my doctor ECGs but of presenting him with a graph showing how often it happened and how long it lasted for.

[JaneFinn]

This is really interesting, and answers some things I’d been wondering about. Thanks, CDreamer Jx

[Palpman]

That article is from June 2019. Kardia's latest 6L model has new software that works with AI and mimics a 12 lead.

It also is no longer restricted to AFib only but can recognize AFlutter.

As far as I understand this model has no equivalent.

[Physalis in reply to Palpman]

Yes, I'm sure you're right.

[Palpman]

mobihealthnews.com/news/ali...

[Hidden]

The AHA’s “Simple Seven” is useful to remember: “ exercise, eat right, stop smoking and lose weight. If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or elevated blood sugar, manage that under the care of a doctor."

[momist]

For me, the big take-away from that article is that the Apple Watch is mainly being worn by people who don't need any AF monitoring, and it CANNOT detect any other heart problems.

I would never invest into the Apple system, as it is exclusive to them and actively obstructs interaction with other devices. It is also far too expensive. I will admit that they are very good (my wife uses an iPad Mini and a MacbookPro). For me, the expected life of a mobile phone is too short for such a high expenditure.

[ling in reply to momist]

Yup! Far too expensive!

[Physalis in reply to momist]

I'm sorry I can't agree with you. For the help it's given me I think it is extremely cheap. What's wrong with young people buying the watch? It wasn't designed just to monitor AF but it does pick up a certain number of people with irregular heart rhythms who will benefit from treatment. Otherwise the first time they would be diagnosed with AF might be if they had had a stroke.

I think I paid about £400 for my watch and £80 for a second hand iPhone and they've been used every day for two years. When people are prepared to pay £200 or more for a private consultation, what price do you put on your health?

The ECGs produced by the Apple watch are virtually identical to the Kardia and I think when you look at them they will both show many more conditions than just AF. It's just that they don't define things like flutter. I could very well have bought a Kardia and done just as well with it.

However, a couple of years ago I had fall in the town centre. In the ambulance, they wanted to know who to contact. I couldn't remember any of my family's phone numbers and in the end they contacted the hospice where I knew one of my grandsons worked and he came to the hospital. If I'd had the watch then, it would have contacted my children. This could have been even more useful if I had been at home alone.

To me that is a useful feature for older people who are quite likely to fall. The watch is a mini computer. How it does certain things I have no idea. How does it know what time I go to bed and what time I get up, whether I'm awake during the night or in light, deep or REM sleep? Do I believe it, I'm not sure! How does it know how many flights of stairs I've climbed in a day? How does it know how many Kcal of Active or Resting Energy I'm using each day? Blow me, I had a minute of Mindfulness a day or so ago! That can't be right!

Don't worry, I'm not at all obsessive!

[CDreamer in reply to Physalis]

Main reason I bought my husband one for Christmas was the fall feature as he has had a few falls & I worried when he went out for walks on his own. It worked out MUCH cheaper than one of those call medallions.

My friends dog fell over a cliff recently & we were able to direct coastguard to her position simply because she was wearing iWatch which had 3 little words App running in the background. Both dog & owner suffered no long term affects, thankfully, although both took a few days to recover! As she was in the back of beyond it would have taken hours to find her taking up a lot of resources without the tech. As it was they were there within 25 mins. I should add that my husband is NCI volunteer so knew the procedures.

[Buffafly in reply to momist]

I have had my little 5S for several years, battery needs charging more often but otherwise still working well. I wouldn’t buy an iWatch though, my cheap smart watch does more stuff than I use!

[CDreamer]

II’m totally invested in Apple because I got totally fed up with Microsoft constantly wanting me to pay for updates but agree it is a big initial outlay, but the devices & the service so good that for me, it’s good value.

I’ve found that it’s Microsoft which doesn’t interact, especially email ASCII attachments.

Apple Mail is plain text. I read a Word file from Apple & Google but Word won’t read a Pages Doc?

It’s usually the platforms which are not compatible rather than the devices.

[momist in reply to CDreamer]

I've not used anything Microsoft for several years, ever since I retired. I was a Linux user on the desktop long before even that (2003? I played around with it even earlier, late 90's) but had to use Microsoft at work. When I bought a laptop about 15 months ago, Windows came with it. It's still on there (on the original drive) but I have a 2TB SSD with Linux Mint on, so I never use it.

Many people using their mobile phones are unaware that the Android OS is based on Linux and built by Google.

[Tako2009]

Thank you CDreamer this answered a lot of my questions and interesting comparison of Apple vs Kardia . I have an Apple Watch but have never used it to monitor my heart - I don’t want to be constantly checking but I would like to have a home monitor to catch any heartbeat issues as they happen - because we all know that I will be back in NSR by the time I get to see the doctor!

Liz

[CDreamer]

I think one of the huge advantages of wearable health tech - and there’s a LOT more out there than just Apple which is far more expensive than Apple - is the mass data it can collect anonymously which enables researchers to analyze data objectively.

I can see this being the norm in the near future and it will be the future of research, simply because it will rely on hard data rather than patient narrative & all of us overstate our positive actions and understate the negatives.

One health insurer is already advertising Apple iWatch6 for £37 if you join their program, which I rated very highly simply because they give you points for nutrition, exercise, sleep & meditation. This helps bring down the price of insurance if you look after your lifestyle. Now that may horrify some but I embrace it. I haven’t seen my GP for over 2 years now but I know they are monitoring me & I find that reassuring. Others may see at as an invasion of privacy.

The COVID Zoe App is just one such application and just look at the affect that had on reversing opinions and influencing government policy. eg:- having loss of taste & smell included in list of COVID symptoms.