Detect irregular heart beats

[Kavpdsl]

Millions of people experience irregular or abnormal heartbeats, called arrhythmias, at some point in their lives. Most of the time, they are harmless and happen in healthy people free of heart disease. However, some abnormal heart rhythms can be serious or even deadly. Having other types of heart disease can also increase the risk of arrhythmias.  

Now I fully understand that Fitbit products are not medical devises, yet they do help people get and stay healthy. And now with more people wearing their fitbits for longer there is a great opportunity for these products to be an aid to the detection of irrigular heart beat that would allow them to go to there doctor to get it checked out. With this feature you could save lives.  

[Liamsthinton]

across all Fitbit watches. It would be a good idea for users to be able to assign a next of kin to be notified if heart rate goes into a dangerous.

[OneVersaUser]

It's a great idea. I've used several health monitor features in Versa watch to monitor my mom's health condition who was living all by herself. A text notification or a critical email alert notification would be a great feature to add when the predetermined threshold is reached. 

[W6LSN]

Would be useful.  so would high/Low heart rate alerts.  Will require hardware redesign as true EKG is an electrical signal and is measured across the heart.  Dr. office will use many  leads (10+) Apple watch uses two (? back of watch and crown) Kardia mobile (Alive Cor) uses two.  

[Pinsy]

Thanks Suzy - Apple watch it is then - shame after being a loyal Fitbit customer for over 5 years - I would be happy even if if I could set an alarm for a heart rate above a certain level - It says it can measure heart rate but in reality it sometimes is accurate and sometimes isnt - so frustrating!

[RobGman]

This is a much needed product/enhancement.  My charge 2 saved my life, purely from its rate function. 

You see, I had some indigestion in my belly, sweating and cold, but nothing that seemed extraordinary.  In retrospect, I recognized that something wasn’t right around 3 p.m. this past January, which continued throughout the day.  I expected it to go away, but fortunately for me, it got worse and prevented me from sleeping. I noticed my Fitbit read 163 while I was laying down about 1 a.m.  I got up, took an aspirin and laid back down, but things kept getting worse. My wife awoke around 2:30 a.m. from my agitation and restlessness. She asked me if I was having a heart attack, but how could I know what THAT feels like?  So she took me to the Emergency Room.

Needless to say, after administering drugs to convert my heart rhythm, which did not work, I was put to sleep and delivered a 100 J electrical shock.  That did the trick.

I've gone through one other episode, but I now have an implanted defibrillator/pacemaker.  I had the same symptoms, and can now easily recognize them myself.  About 8 hours after the onset, my device shocked me back into a normal sinus rhythm.  This is NOT very pleasant, but better than dying.

It would be nice to have a function to detect an abnormal heart rhythm.  I would be happy to participate in beta testing.  Please contact me if you'd like.

Best regards,

Rob G.

[jcdobz]

As a nurse, it would be cool to have an EKG feature. A way to save EKG strips, and perhaps a quick view of all the different types of rhythms.

[Robohobo]

In addition to "detecting and notifying" for "irregular heartbeats, it would be useful to detect and notify based upon high and low heartbeat limits, with the low limits automatically adjusted for sleeping hours.   My interest is in wanting to be notified to "backoff" when exercising, since now a senior, I am concerned about heart going into afib if over about 120bpm.  Likewise when on heat meds it would be good to be notified if the heart rate is getting too low.

[jrsavoie]

Absolutely. My BPM goes down in the 30's. It'd be nice to be woke up before I die in my sleep. Likewise on the high heart rates

[Paul-in-LA]

well, it's been two years since this was suggested. Apple has done well with their watch. I have been loyal to Fitbit for five years, and would love to stay with you. because I have developed issues with afib, I may be forced to go to the devil that is Apple. please don't make me do it!

[jrsavoie]

I agree 100%. I am still waiting for Fitbit. If my Surge ever quits completely, I will be forced to go Apple

[Pinsy]

Yep - I have switched over to Apple and the hr is very accurate and notifies me when it is raised and I’m not exercising- I do feel when I have  gone into af but now I know that I’m not going into af when I don’t feel it - v helpful - also useful when exercising and watching that hr doesn’t go too high - now Fitbit has been bought out there maybe more cash around for software improvements but too late for me 

[Mikeah]

I had accepted the inevitable that I was not going to get the result I
wanted in the short term and I have stayed with fitbit. But I am
reconsidering my position.

[BlueMountain]

This also relates to sleep score since my fitbit seems to rarely/never measure my sleep states, but does a fine job telling me how many hours I have slept.

[Malc_B]

I'd be interested if this would work. I have an irregular heartbeat and while hooked up to anything at the hospital my fitbit says 60ish. Meanwhile the medical equipment says more like 40. I always suspected that if the fitbit had found a rhythm and then didn't find the actual beat that it kind of filled in the blank. 

[Marcelotk]

Everybody knows that a fitness tracker isn't a medical device. That being said, the simple detection of a irregular heartbeat very high without exercise or very low not sleeping isn't prejudicial.

It could help people be more aware of it's health status. High irregular heartbeat could just send an silent alarm to the tracker or a push notification to the smartphone suggesting some breathing exercises.

In the worst case scenario, I just would go to the doctor earlier for a checkup.

[Mikeah]

I know all that and do all that. My complaint is that because of AF I don't get sleep scores and the like. I have had 3 fitbits and none of them has ever worked as advertised when I first bought them and I consider this to be bad faith. I have only ever got the basic sleep graph despite all of the fixes I have followed.Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

[Master10]

Past more then 2 years since you checked this feature

Any real update?

I never saw company that release features so slow like you

Fitbit team: please start comment regarding to status 

[Marcelotk]

@Mikeah sorry to hear that... I've being using the Alta HR for a couple of years now and so far so good. I just purchased the Charge 3 and hope it works fine as well...

[REwald]

It's not new technology. Apple has been doing it on their watch for over a year. I have no idea why the Android side can't catch up. Also no idea why Fitbit can't post a status.

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[Master10]

@REwald you are right

it is a shame that company like Fitbit (marked as top health equipments) behave like that

they far far behind the competitors

Fitbit was #1 with there tech

but now they lost there position

[Master10]

i regret on the Fitbit purchasing 

i think i would need to buy Apple watch or Garmin

i hope one day Fitbit will return to the right track

[jrsavoie]

Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

[Gsar47]

I suffer from afib and use the Versa watch, but I am thinking of switching. I do not know when I am in afib and would like to have a watch that tells me my heart rate is irregular. I do not want an EKG, just a notice that it has detected that my heart rhythm is irregular

[Ric323]

Is this still only "Under consideration" ?

I've had a Charge 2 for two years now, and am starting to consider a newer replacement, but it will NOT be a FitBit if they haven't added any alarm capability to the HR monitoring.

[Mikeah]

Nothing has changed on my Charge 2.



Im resigned to the inferior read outs due to my chronic AF