Increasing ECG Reading in Smartwatches

Smartwatches are becoming popular day by day with their various apps for different health monitoring features, one such revolutionary feature is electrocardiogram (ECG) assessment with which smartwatches can measure ST-segment elevation and depression with great accuracy.

A research presented online during the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2020 Congress, showed wearable devices gave competent results for measuring  ST levels in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) suggesting its importance in situations where a standard ECG is not available.

Aim of the study was to prospectively investigate and compare the feasibility and the accuracy of the Apple watch in patients admitted in the CCU with the diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndrome compared with a standard 12-lead ECG.

100 participants took part (out of which 82 cases were the one who were all treated with percutaneous coronary revascularization and 18 were controls). The study revealed that smartwatches had significant sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing normal ECG with 84 % and 100%, ST segment elevation with 93% and 95% and non-ST-elevation alterations with 94% and 92% respectively.

Based on this data, the viability and dependability of these samartwatches were discussed further in a session at the ESC 2020  and there was a consensus among researchers that for the identification of ST-segment elevation and ST depression in patients with acute coronary syndromes this digital mode could be a life saver in the absence of standard ECG.