RHYTHM DETECTION DEVICES

[Afibtastic]

Hello Afibbers. I have a Withings watch which I use to detect AF is I am not sure eg when inactive i can't always feel it. Just wondering if a Kardia 6L or similar is a good device. I don't really want to subscribe to the service (I am over subscriptions and passwords. Trying to minimise them). Can the 6L detect ventricular arrhythmias or heart failure etc? With AF I am so focused on any little irregularity in heart region and so used to it being out of whack that I wouldn't know if my ventricle started being an issue. Maybe my Withings is all that I need. Curious cheers Steve

[mjames1]

The Mobile or 6L will detect any arrhythmia because it produces a medical grade EKG. However, you have to initiate the EKG by yourself. So if you don't feel the episode sndyou don't take the EKG, you will not know.

In that case you want something that does continuous recordings. Best for that would be a 2 to 3 week Holter type device from your doctors office. The Apple Watch, well, not perfect , is also helpful here. And if you're technically minded. You could look into the Wellue ekg recorders.

Jim

[Afibtastic in reply to mjames1]

Thanks. Will do. Never heard of them. cheers

[Ppiman]

I used the Kardia and can say it's very good, but my Apple Watch trims all. I also have an May / Contec "6-lead" device that uses onboard AI to do what the Kardia needs a monthly fee for - and at a lower price.

Steve

[Wilkie1]

I have a withings watch and would agree that it's Afib monitoring isn't perfect. On two of the occasions I experienced an episode I waited for it to notify me. For one of these I was in Afib for about 8 hours before it alerted me and for another it was the next day by which time I was back in sinus rhythm. If I initiate an ECG reading then it always detects the Afib and the quality of reading is very good (according to my electrophysiologist), so in that regards I don't see how a kardia device would be a benefit. I have not seen any evidence that the alternatives to withings eg apple or Samsung are superior in this respect.

[Ukeplayer1 in reply to Wilkie1]

I also have a Withings watch. Its ECG is good but I always have to initiate it. It has NEVER sent me a notification! I would love to have a watch which would notify me. Does anyone know of one?

[Wilkie1 in reply to Ukeplayer1]

That was the reason I didn't initiate an ECG reading on the two episodes that I referenced in my messages - to test if the watch's monitoring would pick it up , which it did but only after some time. This is not at all impressive given how elevated and chaotic my heart rate is during Afib and how long the episodes last. I think that for anyone with shorter asymptomatic episodes it would be useless as a monitoring device. Would be interested though if anyone has experience of a more reliable automatic monitoring device.

[Afibtastic in reply to Wilkie1]

The Withings doesn't automatically detect unfortunately. I will just check if I have suspicions

[Wilkie1 in reply to Afibtastic]

You're correct it doesn't do it well, but monitoring for Afib is one of its main selling points

Phone screenshot

[richard_jw]

Without paying extra, the Kardia only detects AF. Any other arrhythmia is 'unclassified'.

If you pay the monthly or yearly charge, you also get SVEs (ectopics), PVCs Sinus with wide QRS complexes,I think brady cardia and tachycardia are "free" There are several other features which make the paid service much more useful (e.e. history). I don't think you can detect heart failure via a simple ecg.

As far as accuracy is concerned, on the few occasions my kardia has detected afib (and that's it's raison d'etre) I have had its trace looked at independently (my cardiologist, and a service called Qualy\) and neither of them said thet the trace showed afib.

I suspect that if the trace is clearer (and some kardia traces are not at all clear) it would spot afib reliably, but in my case I personally could not see the irregularly irregular rhythm, nor the missing P waves which also characterise afib. Sure the P waves were small but they were there.

You can also get a Kardia analyst to analyse the trace manually. They always agree with the device analysis in my experience.

[Frances123 in reply to richard_jw]

You are right. Tachycardia and bradycardia are free but so are SVEs.

[richard_jw]

SVEs don't appear to be free on my KardiaI have a lot of therm, and they only appear when I pay

[Abbyroza]

The Withings watch is absolutely all you need. It is very efficient at detecting AF and on top of that it is one of the only devices that will give you a QTc-reading, which is important for early detection of a ‘torsades de pointe’-risk. Very good watch.

[Afibtastic in reply to Abbyroza]

Plus it is a nice analogue looking watch.

[Abbyroza]

Yes, it sure is! But even then, I never wear it permanently, because I don’t want to be reminded of my AF.