Use Fitbit as an early indicator of “Heart pacing” problems

[Jimh_public]

Dear Fitbit Research and Development Team:.

I had a pacemaker installed recently.  Following this procedure, I noticed something  that I would like to pass on to you.  I wear a Fitbit Blaze fitness watch.  Prior to the installation of my pacemaker, the Fitbit Blaze rarely recorded the full details of my sleep (time awake, time in REM, time in light sleep, and time in deep sleep).  I went back 8 weeks prior to the pacemaker installation in history and found that in only 6 of 56 nights did it record the detail.  For the other 50 nights, I only received the Simplified Sleep Details.  In the past, I chatted with Fitbit support a couple of times about this, but never found any remedy using your suggestions that worked.  Since my pacemaker installation, all six nights that I have worn my Fitbit Blaze have recorded the full details of my sleep.  My suggestion to you is that perhaps this lack of detail was an early indicator of my “heart pacing” problems.  I thought this might be something that your R&D personnel might be interested in exploring.  

Note, I have also passed this information to my electrophysiologist.  His comments were: Very interesting. I cannot explain this with certainty, but can hypothesize. Do you know what the algorithm is for the FitBit to determine this information? Does it include pulse rate? With pacing the pulse rate will be much more regular and it is often easier for electronic devices to assess.  I suspect it has something to do with that.  

[YojanaFitbit]

Good suggestion @Jimh_public! Thanks a million for your feedback, this looks really interesting. Let's see what others think about this.

[Islandgurl99]

"While some patients notice symptoms like a racing, skipping or fluttering heart, Dr. Weslow says others don't. According to Apple, the watch could alert you if your heart goes into abnormal rhythm. Apple's website says the company worked with the FDA and also conducted its own study to prove its accuracy."

My wife has AFIB which means her heart races. Can cause strokes and other kinds of havoc. Having the Fitbit Versa text [preferred] or email if this happens would make it so she doesn't have to have an instrument surgically inserted into her body would be helpful. I realize that the Fitbit Versa isn't a medical instrument, but it seems that, since it measures the heart anyway and can provide info about zones, it would be simple to say, if it goes beyond say 250 or 300 beats a minute or what would be considered an abnormal rhythm, it would provide a warning.

[Rich_Laue]

Interesting,  heart pacing is when an external to the person device is used to control the heart beat, ie: a pacemaker. 

Sleep stages are detected by looking at the changes in time between the heart beats. I would think an external pacemaker would interfere with the Heart Rate Variable.