Single-lead ECG tracings from an Apple Watch interpreted by an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm developed at Mayo Clinic effectively identified patients with a weak heart pump, the clinic reports.
Patients were enrolled by email in a decentralized, prospective study funded by Mayo Clinic. Then they downloaded an app that securely transferred watch ECGs in the background. Study participation was high, demonstrating the possibility for a scalable tool to be developed to screen and monitor heart patients for this condition wherever they are.
The researchers worked with Mayo Clinic’s Center for Digital Health to develop the smartphone app that study participants used to send single lead ECGs from their Apple Watch. A total of 2,454 Mayo Clinic patients with an iPhone, the Mayo Clinic App and a series 4 or later Apple Watch took part in the study. The app securely sent all previous watch ECGs and additional ones as they were recorded by patients to a Mayo secure data platform. There they were analyzed.
