smartwatches with accurate heart monitoring

[Angelonmyshoulder]

hi! I consider myself to be a very fortunate woman who has survived mostly unscathed from a major heart attack a few days ago. Defo had an angel on my shoulder that day! I intend to everything possible to ensure a full recovery after my op but wonder if there is a consensus of peoples experiences with smart devices? I have a Fitbit Charge 5 which during my heart attack kept telling me I had a normal heart rhythm!😂. Not true…… I have heard that some people were alerted to issues by their Apple Watch. Appreciate it if anyone could confirm these are as accurate as I’ve heard? Many thanks 👍

[Fanfab1]

hi all I know is an Apple Watch states it will not detect a heart attack but is supposed to report arrhythmia via ecg. What I don’t know / have no knowledge as to whether arrhythmia always occur at same time as a heart attack.

If your heart rhythm was not normal per ambulance/A&E checks then your watch is therefore (logically) inaccurate or not sensitive enough to truly detect arrhythmia.

👍

[Tos92]

The Apple Watch should send you notifications if you are in AFib. You can also change the settings to include the watch to notify you when your heart rate is too low or too high. You will usually get a notification to say your heart rate is too high if you have been inactive for 10 minutes or so and your HR continues to remain elevated. That would indicate there is a potential arrhythmia problem to which you would seek medical attention or advice for.

Apple Watch series’ 4 and above will allow you to perform an ECG using the watch if this was a function you were interested in. However, keep in mind that the smart watches do not replace the 12 lead ECG that are performed at hospitals so there is always a chance of error or inaccuracy.

I use mine for more of an indication rather than an accurate description of what is going on with my heart health.

All the best.

Tos

[Sb1171]

Hi. I have an Apple Watch and used it to take an ECG whilst having a STEMI. It reported a normal sinus rhythm. They quite clearly say it does not check for heart attacks and this is evidently the case. It does record the ECG and you can download it. I am a layman, but even with the limited knowledge I have gleaned since my HA, I can see the huge ST segment elevations in the recording. It is also true that there was no arrhythmia. I had a regular rhythm (with massive ST elevations). Personally I think they should be able to code it to warn you that something is seriously wrong, but have obviously avoided trying to do so to prevent the inevitable litigation if the watch got it wrong.

[Stentsandrun]

Welcome to the club This comes up nearly every month, personally I would call them anxiety watches rather than smart. They are fantastic as a guide for training, but even then the HR function is not particularly reliable (better with a chest strap). If you look in the small print most if not all will advise they are not intended for medical use. If you are going to use it for keeping fit then great but as a "heart monitor" I would forget it personally, there are loads of historical posts on here where they have missed heart events and reported on non heart events, which is not particularly surprising considering how they work. Just concentrate on getting and keeping fit and don't worry, your body will let you know if there are problems.

[Chinkoflight in reply to Stentsandrun]

Totally agree.

[baly_2023 in reply to Stentsandrun]

100% agree

[Manhattan1]

i have an Apple watch which i find is extremely accurate regarding Heart rate.. taken HR on my BP monitor several times and they match up.. also had a low HR warning 2 weeks ago when rate fell between 45/48 for more than 10 mins..also alerts emergency service if i have a fall.. but gives me 10 seconds to stop the call

[Bismark]

I have the Apple watch 6 and I'm not satisfied with it picking up my short episodes of AF or when I have a run of Ectopic beats. So far its never picked up any of these and I've had the watch for over 9 months.

When I row at the gym according to my Apple watch my heart rate was going to 190 BPM. This high BPM worried me but I was reasonably sure that the watch was wrong so I bought a Polar H10 which straps around your chest. When I had the Polar on and rowing my watch was showing 150 BPM and the Polar was showing around 100 BPM which was the correct reading.

I don't trust the Apple watch and I agree with a previous poster that it provides more of a fitness guide than a heart monitor.

[Angelonmyshoulder in reply to Bismark]

thanks Bismark. Yes defo unnecessary worry. I have come to the decision it’s really not worth the investment and once I get to the stage where I can start to work out I will look at medically approved monitoring.. appreciate the reply 👍

[Stentsandrun in reply to Bismark]

That's what they are designed for, really!