Smartwatch app launched to monitor heart rhythms while sleeping

FibriCheck, has launched a smartwatch app that automatically monitors users’ heart rhythms during their sleep.

The app, which can be integrated into any brand of smartwatch, detects episodes of both intermittent and silent atrial fibrillation (AF), where symptoms are only felt on and off or not at all, making diagnosis extremely difficult. FibriCheck’s latest innovation offers a solution for detecting the most common form of heart rhythm disorders.

Atrial fibrillation is responsible for around 25% of all strokes^; the vast majority of which are entirely preventable with timely diagnosis and treatment. FibriCheck’s latest innovation for smartwatch has been developed to detect the heart rhythm disorder when a person is asleep, even in cases where there are no apparent symptoms.

Smartwatches with the FibriCheck app installed automatically measure your heart rhythm every five minutes while you sleep. When you wake up, you have access to an overview along with notifications which you can forward to your doctor for follow-up and/or treatment.     

Lars Grieten, CEO FibriCheck, said: “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to know if they have a heart rhythm irregularity, to prevent AF strokes from happening. 

“The FibriCheck heart rhythm app is a device-agnostic medical software application that can easily be integrated into any phone or wearable product that uses PPG (photoplethysmography) sensors. For smartphone, smartwatch and consumer technology companies, this opens up new possibilities to expand product offerings and provide consumers with innovative ways to manage their health and health-related conditions, including better heart health.”

FibriCheck is a medical CE- and FDA-certified app that enables regular and long-term heart rhythm screening. It has been validated in clinical settings as well as large clinical trials in free-living conditions.

At present, the new medical smartwatch app is undergoing the final stages of user testing and will be available for smartwatch manufacturers worldwide as of the second half of 2020. One major smartwatch manufacturer has already reached an agreement to integrate the FibriCheck technology in their products.

FibriCheck was recently selected as a high impact innovation by the 2020 NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme, another step in commercially expanding and scaling up FibriCheck's market reach. One of the company’s upcoming projects includes making fully continuous monitoring a reality.

Grieten added: “This is the first step in turning consumer devices into fully automated medical diagnostic devices. Our next steps will be to add even more devices, and more frequent monitoring, to improve the user experience and make it easier to deliver better capabilities supporting heart health.”