Cleveland Clinic HRM accuracy study

[bbarrera]

Summary of study by Cleveland Clinic:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170308145327.htm

Each participant wore:

- EKG

- Scosche Rhythm+ on arm

- two wrist based HRM, one on each wrist

the 4 wrist HRM:

- Apple Watch

- Fitbit Blaze

- Garmin Forerunner 235

- TomTom Spark Cardio

researchers then recorded HR at rest, light, moderate, and vigorous exercise on:

- treadmill

- stationary bike

- elliptical (with and without hand levers)

measurements from wearable devices were compared against EKG.

Findings:

- chest strap closely compared to EKG

- wearables good for resting HR

- most wearables acceptable for treadmill

- most wearables fairly inaccurate for cycling and elliptical

- Apple Watch only wearable accurate on elliptical without hand levers

- all wearables became inaccurate with increasing intensity levels, except for Apple Watch 

Bottom line:

- chest strap is best if you need or want to monitor HR during exercise

- wearables don't provide complete picture of HR

- wearables equally over and under estimate HR

- most accurate on treadmill at low intensity, worst on elliptical at high intensity

- wearables aren't measuring what the heart does, unlike EKG and chest strap

- larger studies needed

Hoping more details will be released after the researchers present their findings at the conference this weekend.

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi @bbarrera. Good to see you around!

Thanks for taking the time to share this information with us!