Providing patients the tools they need to understand the impact of lifestyle on their heart health
AliveCor, Inc. , the leader in FDA-cleared ECG technology for smartphones, announced today the launch of the latest version of its AliveECG app. The new version of the AliveECG App includes The Heart Journal, a feature that allows users to log and tag daily activities, symptoms and events in real-time that can impact heart health and work to identify abnormalities. It also introduces a new metric called Beat Fluctuation, a measure of how much the heartbeat changes from beat to beat in ECG (or EKG) recordings. These new features help users to not only learn more about their own heart health, but also contribute valuable data to the global understanding of heart arrhythmias. Currently thousands of patients a month are creating more than 40,000 different tags after they record an ECG. With the new Heart Journal users can now document their lifestyle factors anytime – with or without an ECG recording.
“Based on analysis of the AliveCor patient population we found that the chances a patient tags palpitations, shortness of breath, slept poorly or anxiety are higher when they have a detected cardiac episode,” said Euan Thomson, president and chief executive officer at AliveCor. “Our goal is to further attack heart arrhythmias head on. By collecting more data in a community effort we can work to try and develop more insights and advance the science around what might be triggering and impacting patients.”
The goal of the new Heart Journal is to gather data on a personal and population level that can increase the understanding of heart arrhythmias. Physicians often recommend that patients track activities and lifestyle habits along with their symptoms to add the context necessary to guide diagnosis and therapeutic decisions. The Heart Journal allows users to now journal their activities without having to take an ECG every time. Users can add events and tags around their ECG recordings, such as drinking coffee, exercise level or medical procedures, to better understand their heart health. The new Beat Fluctuation metric was designed by AliveCor as a way to experiment with lifestyle changes and what may be impacting heart health.
“AliveCor’s new Heart Journal has been a helpful way for me to learn about what is going on with my own heart by tracking my activities and watching my beat fluctuation, while at the same time sharing that information with my physician,” said Jerry Webb, AliveCor user since December 2014. “It has been great to know immediately when Atrial Fibrillation is detected and now I can also try to figure out why.”
“We work everyday to understand what triggers cardiac episodes so that we can advise patients on potential triggers, such as maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding alcohol or caffeine or regulating their stress and sleep. Many patients still struggle with knowing which of these factors could make a difference and the new AliveCor Heart Journal helps capture the information needed to potentially unlock the mysteries behind heart arrhythmias,” said Dr. Ian Del Conde, cardiologist at Miami Cardiac Vascular Institute.
The AliveCor® Mobile ECG is intended to record, store and transfer single-channel ECG rhythms. The AliveCor Mobile ECG also displays ECG rhythms and detects the presence of atrial fibrillation and normal sinus rhythm (when prescribed or used under the care of a physician). The AliveCor Mobile ECG is intended for use by healthcare professionals, patients with known or suspected heart conditions and health conscious individuals. The device has not been tested for and it is not intended for pediatric use. The AliveCor Mobile ECG is compatible with all iOS and most Android OS mobile devices. With secure storage in the cloud, users have the ability to access their data confidentially anytime, anywhere.
The AliveCor Mobile ECG can be purchased at store.alivecor.com, Amazon and select retail pharmacies in Florida and Wisconsin. The updated app is available now for Android users and in the coming months for iOS users.