Does the charge 5 recognize atrial flutter?

[BillyDB]

Atrial flutter is an abnormal but potentially regular rhythmic pattern.

1. Does the ecg recognize atrial flutter? If so, how does it report it in results; Normal SV, Atrial Fibrillation, or Inconclusive?
2. Does atrial flutter effect the heart rate measurement? If so, how does it influence it?

[LZeeW]

Hello @BillyDB and welcome to the Community.  I don't think you will get an answer from this site.  This is moderated customer-to-customer help site.  You are asking a question that seems to involve proprietary information.

[Fitschitts]

That is a very good question. I also would like to know the answer.

Here is more information about it:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/atrial-flutter/symptoms-causes/syc-20352586#:~:text=A....

[BillyDB]

It does indeed seem nearly impossible to obtain an answer to this question. Materials published on the website are vague and insufficient once one digs into them. fitbit support has so far not been able or willing. I thought I'd try the user community to see if anyone else has tried to get to the bottom of this either successfully or unsuccessfully.

Don't you think the company should be specific about what it measures and doesn't measure and how different conditions might influence reported metrics? I'm sure some technical folk whom I am unable to access know the answers. I suspect the vague approach is due to liability concerns.

Frustrated by a lack of info here, I made a brief inquiry into Alive-Cor where I received specific answers easily and directly. Maybe I'm not crazy afterall. 

[LZeeW]

@BillyDB   I looked at the site, using your link.  Atrial flutter isn't on the list of rhythms that Kardia can identify.  Fitbit's ECG is a medically regulated device.  When Fitbit presented its data to the FDA, it only presented data seeking to identify atrial fibrillation.  It made no request to analyze atrial flutter.  Fitbit is forbidden by the FDA to make any comment about atrial flutter because it presented no data on atrial flutter.  From what I read, neither did Kardia.

This should have been my initial answer.

[BillyDB]

Thank you @LZeeW! Yours is the most informative statement I've yet received about the issue. You seem to know something about the topic and are adept at reading between the lines. Could not have fitbit support been at least able to say the same? You are correct about Kardia. I did not mean to say they measured flutter, only that their support spoke to the issue in a clear and timely manner. Here is their response:

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The KardiaMobile was only designed to detect Afib, Bradycardia Tachycardia and Normal results.

We are not currently cleared by the FDA to detect atrial flutter.  However, the Kardia Mobile 6L contains Lead II data which makes it easy for a cardiologist to look at the EKG to determine if Atrial Flutter is present. 

If you would be having an atrial flutter episode at the time you took an EKG reading it will come out as an 'Unclassified' result because the Kardia device cannot detect it. 

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I was unable to obtain comparable info from fitbit support even after pressing on two separate occasions and then escalating the question.

[LZeeW]

@BillyDB   I have direct knowledge of what is involved with FDA approval for drugs and devices.  Fitbit can only write about those thing involved in the approved use.  Neither Support nor the moderators can deviate from the published information.  Please note that the Kardia response says that a cardiologist can interpret their data. 

[BillyDB]

Seems to me that, like Kardia, fitbit should at least be able to say specifically what's been approved and what's not. For instance Kardia describe the types of afib their tech has been approved for and whether or not it was approved for flutter. fitbit is more vague.

[BillyDB]

I keep trying to start a new post but somehow it keeps being added to this thread.