Fitbit Charge HR wearable might have saved a man's life
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If you think that fitness trackers and bands that monitor heart rate and other data are mostly for show, there is a 42-year old man who would certainly disagree. In fact, his Fitbit Charge HR might have been the only thing that prevented him from passing away in the ER at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden.
With that information, the docs realized that it was the seizure that caused the atrial fibrillation. Therefore, the heart could be shocked into sinus rhythm, which it was. This was the first time on record that a fitness tracker was used by doctors to help them make a medical "life or death" decision on treatment.
"During the patient’s examination, it was noted that he was wearing a wrist activity tracker (Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit, San Francisco, CA), which was synchronized with an application on the patient’s smartphone, recording his pulse rate as part of a fitness program. The application was accessed on the patient’s smartphone and revealed a baseline pulse rate between 70 and 80 beats/min, with an immediate persistent increase to a range of 140 to 160 bpm at the approximate time of the patient’s seizure. The pulse rate remained elevated until administration of the diltiazem in the field."-Annals of Emergency Medicine
We wouldn't be surprised to see fitness tracker sales pick up sharply in the months ahead.
source: AnnalsofEmergencyMedicine, EmergencyCare ForYou via Gizmodo
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