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BUSINESS EYE JANUARY 12, 2024 | The Indian Eye 32

TECH T@LK

SMARTWATCHES CAN DETECT ABNORMAL

HEART RHYTHMS IN CHILDREN: STUDY

OUR BUREAU a child had to wear, for 24 to 48 hours, a Holter
monitor consisting of a device about the size of a
San Francisco, CA
smartphone attached by wires to five electrodes
recent study from the Stanford School of that were adhered to the child’s chest. Patients can
Medicine suggests that smartwatches can as- now wear event monitors -- in the form of a single
A sist medical professionals in identifying and sticker placed on the chest -- for a few weeks. Al-
diagnosing abnormal heart rhythms in children. though the event monitors are more comfortable
The results are based on an analysis of electronic and can be worn longer than a Holter monitor,
health data for children with heart conditions who they sometimes fall off early or cause problems
are being treated at Stanford Medicine Children’s such as skin irritation from adhesives.
Health. The study was published in Communica- The second challenge is that even a few weeks
tions Medicine. of continuous monitoring may not capture the
In the course of four years, 145 times, “Apple heart’s erratic behavior, as children experience ar-
Watch” was cited in patient medical records. Of for patients.” rythmias unpredictably. Kids may go months be-
the patients whose medical records referenced the The study’s lead author is Aydin Zahedivash, tween episodes, making it tricky for their doctors
smartwatch, 41 had irregular cardiac rhythms that MD, a clinical instructor in pediatrics. to determine what’s going on.
were verified using conventional diagnostic tech- Most of the abnormal rhythms detected were Connor Heinz and his family faced both chal-
niques; 29 of these kids received a diagnosis for the not life-threatening, Ceresnak said. However, he lenges when he experienced periods of a racing
first time for their arrhythmias. added that the arrythmias detected can cause dis- heartbeat starting at age 12: An adhesive moni-
“I was surprised by how often our standard tressing symptoms such as a racing heartbeat, diz- tor was too irritating, and he was having irregular
monitoring didn’t pick up arrythmias and thewatch ziness and fainting. heart rhythms only once every few months. Ceres-
did,” said senior study author Scott Ceresnak, MD, Doctors face two challenges in diagnosing nak thought he knew what was causing the racing
professor of pediatrics. Ceresnak is a pediatric car- children’s cardiac arrythmias, or heart rhythm rhythms, but he wanted confirmation. He suggest-
diologist who treats patients at Stanford Medicine. abnormalities. The first is that cardiac diagnos- ed that Connor and his mom, Amy Heinz, could
“It’s awesome to see that newer technology can tic devices, though they have improved in recent try using Amy’s smartwatch to record the rhythm
really make a difference in how we’re able to care years, still aren’t ideal for kids. Ten to 20 years ago, the next time Connor’s heart began racing.

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