Will the Charge HR track my heart rate with PVCs?

[ForMom]

I have a significant number of PVCs in my typical heart rhythm.

Will the Charge-HR still track my heart rate accurately?

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[RobertoME]

Hello @ForMom, welcome aboard to our Community. Note that the Charge HR is not consider a medical device so I'm not sure if will read your Premature ventricular contractions, but as for your regular heart beat it should. When your heart beats, your capillaries expand and contract based on blood volume changes and this changes is what the CHarge HR will read to give you heart rate information. I would suggest to see your physician for a better recommendation about which device you should use for PVCs.

See ya later and happy stepping.

[stephanie1969]

I got a fitbit today, for Christmas, and am wondering about pvcs also. About 40% of all my beats are pvcs. My fitbit is showing my heartrate in the 70s, pretty consistantly for the last few hours, yet when I take my pulse it is always in the 30s to 50's. It is definately picking up more beats than my pulse-ox and the beats I pick up when taking it from my neck or wrist. The fitbit is either faulty or is picking up on the pvcs.

[RobertoME]

Hi there @stephanie1969, its nice to have you in our Fitbit Community. Heart rate reading varies depending on several factors like movement, temperature, humidity, stress level, physical body position, caffeine intake, and medication. despite the Charge HR is not a medical device, the accuracy of the readings could be affected by different medical conditions and medications, can impact your heart rate readings. Consult your doctor before starting an exercise routine.

See you around and let me know if you have more questions.

[Wendy74ca]

I was recently diagnosed with a PVC and had purchased my Fitbit just prior to diagnosis as I was having irregular heartbeats and I wanted to be able to know what was going on between Dr visits. This past week my Fitbit pulse was registering as really low and I was feeling really horrible at the same time it was happening. I did a stress test today and was hooked up to a bunch of machines. While the PVC's were happening my Fitbit was missing them. So a low pulse reading was actually a high number of PVCs. Ironically it also couldn't seem to keep up with my heartbeat when it was 150 bpm (it was reading at 62) even though all my PVCs disappeared at this higher rate. I have to say I'm disappointed as I can't trust any of the HR readings. 

[DrFoxypants]

Thanks for posting about this. I've been searching to find out what a Fitbit will do with an irregular heartbeat. I had assumed there would be a FAQ somewhere explaining how the device handles unusual measurements, but all I can find are customer complaints about it with no actual answers from the company.

I also have very frequent PVCs so my actual HR is often in the 30s-40s. But since my Fitbit never shows a HR that low I've been trying to figure out whether it was reporting some kind of average, or just operating on some kind of algorithm that assumes HR to be within the normal range. Without knowing the answer my Fitbit's HR data is completely useless to me. And since the sleep tracking is based on HR that feature is useless to me, too.

It's pretty frustrating that the Fitbit company hasn't made this information available. The developers must have made decisions about what to have the software do in the case of an atypical measurement. But rather than simply stating how the software handles an atypical HR the company says nothing about it, and when customers ask they just say "Fitbit is not a medical device." They really should make it clear that the HR features of the device simply can't be used by anyone with an irregular heartbeat. That would have saved me the trouble of buying one and trying to make sense of the data. But it seems like the company was more concerned about making sales than about customer satisfaction. Which is not what I had expected from Fitbit. 😞

[RobertoME]

Hello @DrFoxypants, welcome aboard to the Fitbit Community and thank you for all your insight regarding this topic, rest assured I will forward this information to our teams. Note that this is not our intention to hide information deliberately and rest assure our team is always performing internal studies to validate performance to improve our products.

Fitbit products are designed to provide meaningful data that helps you reach your health and fitness goals, but as you mentioned in your post, our devices are not scientific or medical devices. This statement is just to let our users know if there is a condition, to be aware the performance or the data provided by the tracker may not help under this circumstances where is require something, designed for these specific scenarios.

Nonetheless I'm not trying to debate your point, as I understand your feedback. Rest assured we are working constantly to improve the Fibtit experience and help our user to achieve a healthier, more active life.

See you until the next opportunity.

[Glenngetsfit]

Hi...I'd also like to see more movement towards pvc influence on fitbit readings. I get 23,000 pvcs a day....bijiminy is a term used. I've been through two E.P. studies and attempted ablaisions to the tune of over 250,000 dollars billed and no success. I've used the fitbit HR since January (10 months?) and I have 10 months of data....I also keep my own calorie counts daily and have set my goals for steps etc to make 3000 calories burned per day....while trying to only consume 1500 per day. Im down to 218lbs from 313 since dec 3rd and even with the pvcs and whatever accurate/inaccurate tabulations fitbit does== if I figure my 10 months worth of data calories burned minus calories consumed to get a calorie balance (target= minus 1500 per day) and figure 3500 calories is 1 lb lost/gained I find my fitbits calculations are 80-85% accurate with my results......I am very happy with 80-85% accuracy. I credit fitbit with my wieght loss success. Being a goal oriented two-feet in obsessive compulsive having this tracker is amazing. Thank you.!!! 95lbs lost.....much more fit (walking 6-7plus miles a day as a workout) and only about 20 more lbs. to go for my realistic goal. 

ps....my stress test ekg's show pvc's at the start of the test....they disappear after I get going....then reappear as I slow down.

The heart rate summary from the fitbit for a walk/workout shows initial peaks of 120-140 then, as i get rolling- its backed down to 70-80........my resting is consistently 45-46bpm.....the peaks at first and the drop after I get going kinda follow the stress test ekg.......but the resting 45-46 doesn't seem to be reading all my beats..........but in the end----80-85% accurate..........Glenn

(always interested in feedback,comments,observations,opinions....even snide remarks welcome.....)

[Paynerk]

Just a little more info on Fitbit and low heart rate. I was in the ER this past weekend with complaint of high blood pressure and low heart rate on my Fitbit Iconic. They did an EKG and discovered I have both Bigeminy and Trigeminy. While talking with the doctor I was looking at my Fitbit heart rate and it was reading 50. He looked at the heart monitor and said my heart rate was actually at 100 and I was having Bigeminy at the time. The Fitbit was only counting every other pulse

[yecal]

I LOVE my fitbit because of my PVCs. I was having way to many and my card. put me on a betablocker to control them. I was getting lightheaded and having chest pains. The meds generally work very well but sometimes if im stressed or had too much caffeine or even after working out sometimes ill start having a bunch and have to take a kind of boost dose to calm it down. If my pulse jumps above 70ish and my watch shoes me in cardio range than I know to take a boost dose. Its great!! Without the watch id have to wait until I start getting dizzy or lightheaded to know that I need to take my meds. My fitbit helps me to avoid that. I LOVE my fitbit. I have a charge 2 and its starting to go so im thinking hard about getting an upgrade next time. Maybe  a Versa. So im personally very happy that it does not read the pvc correctly. By reading it as an extra beat it tells me that I need to take action. Best thing ever. I know that fitbit prob cant sell it as a medical device but this thing is helping to save my heart ❤️

[yecal]

I LOVE my fit bit because of my PVC. I was having way to many and my card. put me on a beta blocker to control them. I was getting lightheaded and having chest pains. The med generally work very well but sometimes if im stressed or had too much caffeine or even after working out sometimes ill start having a bunch and have to take a kind of boost dose to calm it down. If my pulse jumps above 70 and my watch shoes me in cardio range than I know to take a boost dose. Its great!! Without the watch id have to wait until I start getting dizzy or lightheaded to know that I need to take my med. My fit bit helps me to avoid that. I LOVE my fit bit. I have a charge 2 and its starting to go so im thinking hard about getting an upgrade next time. Maybe  a Versa. So im personally very happy that it does not read the PVC correctly. By reading it as an extra beat it tells me that I need to take action. Best thing ever. I know that fit bit prob cant sell it as a medical device but this thing is helping to save my heart ❤️

[Shane1072]

I've been having PVCs for the last couple of months. The normal annoying kind. I've noticed that on my versa, and now versa 2 that it picks them up as a higher HR. It's almost like a double tap reading. My resting is usually 59-64 without the PVCs. With them, I'm reaching 70 and that's high for me. Dr said that it's probably counting the extra beats, because my 48 holter monitor showed 60 as resting. During that time, Fitbit showed 68 resting. It's able to see them, but doesn't know how to calculate them. 

[Abby5945]

I agree that it would be great to know what it does with irregular beats. Fwiw, I think the Fitbit ignores an irregular beat at least if they're isolated. On a bad day, I might have 5 or 6 PVCs a minute. If I watch my heart rate, it stays at my normal 70s/80s the entire time. So I think it is programmed to ignore some level of irregularity. 

[David606]

Info from my cardiologist this week: PVCs are weak beats, and often cancel out (prevent) the regular beat that would shortly to have occurred. Because it is a weak beat, the Fitbit is likely to miss it. In my case these combined effects cause my apparent beat on FB to be about 20% less than should be shown. I get about 18 PVC's per minute, and FB may show my resting rate lower than 40 bpm. 

[krashlog]

Can't believe I had to dig for so long to find this information, IMHO it should be cleary stated that PVCs aren't picked up by Fitbit. I just got a Charge 5 and was amazed at how low my heartbeat was, even if I don't do any sports regularly. Turns out, after getting an ECG I too was diagnosed with PVCs and I saw the heart rate of 93 on the monitor being reported as 68 on the fitbit, lol.

[EJNIV]

@DrFoxypants, I am hoping that this "thread" is still active.  I have a long history of benign PVCs (treadmill ECG tests, regular ECGs, etc. all essential wnl, etc.) and have been a long time Charge user (back to Charge 2 and now Charge 5).  I noticed in the last 9 days that my Charge 5 no longer provides any sleep data (something very important to me).  Support has been relatively helpful but no solutions.  Last night (12 November 2022) I wore my wife's Sense and she wore the Charge 5.  Sense recorded sleep (Charge 5 was recording 3 hours when I was getting 7-8) but not stages while the Charge 5 (worn by my wife) did record sleep stages.  I too am curious with the Google acquisition of Fitbit what, if any, changes in the analytics behind the biometrics may have occurred.  My Charge 5 does accurately measure my RHR, other biometrics (except HRV).  Really curious.

Thanks DrEd (PhD type 😁)

[Dmohney]

The irony here is that my Fiitbit "saw" my change in heart health. As my PVCs increased, my heart rate went "downward."  It's data, but not clearly interpretation..

Which leads to the ECG feature and self-taught reading of the 30 second "strip" ...

[EJNIV]

@Dmohneyand others.  Just an update on my Charge 5 not capturing sleep data and 30-second ECG indicating  Afib.  Being cautious I did see my cardiologist (long history of benign PVCs), wore a Phillips Biotel ECG for 30 days, and a follow up visit. No evidence of Afib.  I did purchase the Emay EMG-20 (portable ECG device) in order to monitor for Afib AND to compare my Charge 5 with a most likely more sensitive device.  In March (2023) I decided to do an experiment and switched from caffinated coffee to decaf.  Viola!  Charge 5 start capturing sleep data, Fitbit Charge 5 started indicating normal sinus rhythms!  Cardiologist had prescribed Eliquis as a precaution while evaluatring and discontinued this after additional office EKGs, reviewing my Charge ECG reports, and the Emay reports.

Bottom line:  I only share this since I found it interesting that caffeine might have been playing a role (Doh!).  I still have, and probably will have, the benign PVCs, but heart health is good .  (Also had a cardiac calcium test with a score of "0" which is best possible.)  What did surprise me is I asked the cardiologist during my last visit about drinking caffinated coffee.  His response:  just don't drink more than I do.  (Cute answer but not helpful.)  I'm sticking with decaf from here on out.  

I do want to encourage ALL if you start getting Afib readings on your Fitbit devices I do believe the smart thing to do is see a physician!  Better safe than very, very sorry!  

Just my 0.02 worth.

Ed