Frequent Smartphone Afib Monitoring Catches Arrhythmia

Twice-weekly use of a smartphone device for single-lead electrocardiogram detection of atrial fibrillation caught more cases than usual care, although with a fairly low yield in seniors with afib risk factors. Screening picked up 3.9-fold more atrial fibrillation than found in routine care -- 19 versus five cases out of the evenly divided 1,001 participants (P=0.007), Julian Halcox, MD, of Swansea University in Wales, reported here at the European Society of Cardiology meeting and simultaneously online in Circulation. "The data from this study confirm results from studies with implanted pacemakers, cardioverter-defibrillators, and loop recorders and other AF screening studies that ... the more we look for AF, the more we will find it," wrote Albert Waldo, MD, PhD, of UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland, and John Camm, MD, of St. George's University of London, in an accompanying Circulation editorial. https://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ESC/67594?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-08-30&eun=g721819d0r&pos=2