How reliable is Kardia and the reports??

[chris45558]

My saga does on.The last few days if posted about one of my Kardia reports coming back as Afib having never been diagnosed with it, just SVT.

I had a run of fast HR the other day and it was coming back as unclassified which normally means SVT however one came back as Afib.

Immediately within a minute and still with my heart was racing I took another one which came back as unclassified.

I send the Afib reading to be assessed by Kardia and true enough is comes back as Afib.

Today I decided to send the second reading off and now this came back as Supraventricular tachycardia.

So you have to question how do I get two different diagnosises with a minute of each other and a continuation of the same fast heart rate episode.

I pay the £9.99 a month to Kardia but how good is it.

I'm not under a EP or cardiologist anymore and it takes weeks for a GP appointment.

[baba]

Heart rhythm regular or irregular?

[chris45558 in reply to baba]

Afib one said irregular the unclassified said regular.

[CDreamer in reply to chris45558]

Then the analysis is probably correct as SVT will be regular & AF irregular. It’s not uncommon to have this reaction with PAF when flipping in & out of AF - I certainly experience this.

[mjames1]

So you have to question how do I get two different diagnosises with a minute of each other and a continuation of the same fast heart rate episode.I pay the £9.99 a month to Kardia but how good is it.

I showed identical ekg's to four top-rated ep's and got different determinations. Differentiating SVT's from afib (or even flutter) is not always that straightforward, especially on a single lead ekg. So don't be surprised if you found the same with Kardia's human analysis.

You also have to keep in mind that the Kardia cardiologist may or may not be an ep and might even be a technician, depending on your plan and what you pay.

I also pay the monthly fee and find good value with the extra determinations, cloud storage and access to a real person, although I don't use that anymore.

Jim

[chris45558 in reply to mjames1]

From what I can see Jim it was a technician who read it.

[mjames1 in reply to chris45558]

Well a tech may be good for basic stuff, such as differentiating run of ectopics vs afib, but as I mentioned, even good ep's cannot always agree differentiating some SVT's from afib or even flutter, esp on a single lead.

If you really want to pursue it, you might want to find an ep to get the afib tracing analyzed, or wear a ekg patch so that they can see what happens before and after these types of events, which is additional analytical information.

Also, you can post the ekg here and maybe drdavehd (Dr. David Albert) will comment as he sometimes monitor's this forum. He's the inventor of Kardia and also I believe an ep.

Jim

[Teresa156]

I’ve never been very impressed with the reports that come back when you send off a Kardia reading for further analysis, as the reports come back very quickly ( I had one back within ten minutes once) they don’t read any details at all about you, or what medication you’re on and when they do give you an analysis, mine were a cut and paste from info already on line and didn’t tell me anything that I didn’t already know. I was also wary if the diagnosis was correct.

However, as others have said, it is certainly possible that you can have more than one Arrythmia in a 30 second reading. I do - I have three. Atrial tachycardia, atrial flutter and af, as diagnosed by an experienced EP at my hospital.

I wouldn’t recommend getting a GP to analyse your ECGs. You might be best booking a private appointment with an EP, if these episodes continue or they worry you. It’s approx £200-£250 but depending on the outcomes they can transfer you to the NHS lists or offer further treatment, back on the NHS. This would be quicker and easier than asking your GP for referral.

[chris45558 in reply to Teresa156]

Thanks Teresa..that's a good idea about going private

[Vonnegut]

I rarely use my Kardia anymore as the Flecainide dose I take keeps my heart in order. I found mine very helpful as the EP who suggested it also introduced me to having a smart phone which I hadn’t previously owned etc. However, that was before they introduced a regular payment after initial purchase. The one time I got an “unclassified” and paid for an “interpretation”, as it turned out to be af which it is supposed to be able to identify, I asked for and received a refund!

[Thomas45]

I don't understand why it takes you weeks to get a GP appointment when I can get them within 24 hours. What matters is how do you feel in yourself, not what a Kardia may tell you.

[chris45558 in reply to Thomas45]

Other than the run of HR I feel ok. I go to the gym most mornings.Do a spin class once a week and started to get the miles up on my bike. I just seem to get HR when I eat.

[108cat in reply to chris45558]

Just wondering if you have a hiatus hernia or gastric issues? That might be triggering your AF ... Dr Sanjay Gupta (York cardiologist) explains the gastric connection with AF in his youtube videos.

[chris45558 in reply to 108cat]

I've said to Drs for years that I must have a gastric problem but they seem to dismiss it in relation to my SVT

[Kendalghost]

When I was seen by the EP/consultant she looked at the Kardia records and made notes on my medical file from it. So I would say that it was worthwhile paying the annual charge to keep the records.