During an event touting Fitbit’s atrial fibrillation function, company co-founder James Park said it was one of several features of the brand’s fitness-tracking bands that are “making users effortlessly in control of health and wellness.” Those features are meant to make patients the protagonists in maintaining their health. Some products will call 911 if the wearer has been in a car crash or had a bad fall. Users can have their steps counted, their sleep tracked and their gait analyzed. Heart rhythm sensors are among many tools packed into these wearables. Now we’re playing catch-up and trying to figure out what to do with this information.” “Industry came out with these things because they could. “The technology has outpaced us,” said Rod Passman, a cardiologist at Northwestern University who’s assisting with a study examining the Apple Watch’s ability to screen for the heart rhythm condition. Tens of millions of people are armed with these devices, and if even a small fraction of those get a ping, it could mean increased care and costs. It’s a conundrum, and a consequential one, for the health care system. Notifications from the devices aren’t definitive diagnoses. Although the gadgets are a technical achievement, some cardiologists say the information the devices produce isn’t always useful.
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