Apple Watch and Fitbit users are more likely to get heart procedures than those without heart-monitoring wearable devices, according to a May 27 study published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers from Hanover, N.H.-based Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Salt Lake City-based University of Utah School of Medicine and Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center, among several other medical centers, followed 16,320 patients with atrial fibrillation who sought services at the University of Utah Health.
Study participants who used wearable devices had significantly increased rates of healthcare use, even though the pulse rates of the two groups had no significant differences.
Wearable users were healthier on average than those who did not have those devices. Yet, 17.6 percent of participants who had a wearable had a cardiac ablation procedure, compared to just 7.4 percent of participants who did not have wearables.