Checking your texts, and your blood sugar Some systems can also send notes and alerts to doctors. By Joshua Brockman New York Times JULY 16, 2019 — 10:52PM |
The devices allow travelers with heart conditions, diabetes and epilepsy to discreetly check up on themselves in airport terminals or train or bus stations, sending information and alerts to doctors and caregivers.
In effect, they are helping to create a virtual support and safety net.
A device is helping cardiac patients like Nicholas LiVolsi, 40, a graphic designer who noticed several years ago that his heart kept beating irregularly after flights.
His cardiac electrophysiologist, Dr. Daniel Frisch, recommended a monitoring measure beyond the standard electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG), which requires lying on an exam table and having electrodes stuck to his chest, arms and legs to obtain a dozen views of the heart. The device, KardiaMobile, developed by AliveCor using artificial intelligence and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is a personal EKG monitor that looks like a pack of gum and has two sensors.
‘Peace of mind’ | Patients place the $99 device close to their smartphone, rest their forearms on a flat surface and put two fingers of each hand on electrodes. It records a medical-grade EKG in 30 seconds, telling users whether they are in normal rhythm or atrial fibrillation, and stores the results as a PDF on the smartphone. It also allows users to add a note for their doctor. The results can be uploaded to the doctor by subscribing to a plan. |
The device, he said, “gives me peace of mind.”
Frisch said it’s “very useful for me to see what a person’s heart rhythm is at the time of symptoms, or for people that have vague symptoms, to figure out what their heart is doing. … Feedback is part of the deal with wearables, and it’s a new paradigm that we have to embrace.”
The Apple Watch Series 4 has FDA clearance for both its irregular heart rhythm alert and its ECG, which operates with an electrical heart sensor. Users take an ECG by placing a finger on the digital crown for 30 seconds. Electrodes in the crown and in the back crystal work in concert. Afterward, a user can add symptoms and generate a PDF. But there’s no option to automatically send the result to a doctor.
Frisch said the quality of recordings from the Kardia and the latest Apple Watch were very similar and provide a single view of the heart that is “an approximation” of the standard EKG. But Kardia is coming out the KardiaMobile 6L, which Frisch said would allow doctors to view the same heart rhythm from six angles.
Diabetics, too, have new devices that can help them monitor their blood sugar. “The most painful part of diabetes is the finger stick,” said Kathleen Weaver, 59, of Dallas, a dog owner and handler. She said she used to have to test her blood up to 10 times a day. Now she wears a Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor, which doesn’t require drawing blood.
‘Siri, what’s my blood sugar?’
Its sensor remains attached to the skin on her abdomen for up to 10 days, and she also uses an insulin pump. The Dexcom transmits glucose readings every five minutes, and connects wirelessly to a reader device or via an app to her smartphone and smartwatch and sends her alarms when her blood sugar goes high or low.
Since her medical devices are hidden beneath her clothing, Weaver said, she can be discreet when she wants to know her number. “I can say, ‘Hey, Siri, what’s my blood sugar?’ ”
Her endocrinologist can see the data stored in the cloud to determine how much insulin she should have throughout the day. Her insulin pump has to be programmed manually. When traveling, Weaver said, she uses an app to message her doctor.
Wearable devices like the Apple Watch contain motion sensors (including an accelerometer and gyroscope) and have GPS capabilities that can provide a person’s coordinates to emergency responders.
Mary Kate O’Donnell, 29, who has epilepsy, said she worried she would have a seizure on a plane. “No matter how frequently I fly, I have this intense fear of trusting two complete strangers with my safety and simply hoping for the best, which can then cause a seizure during the flight,” she said.
O’Donnell, who lives in Manchester, Conn., has been using EpiWatch, an Apple Watch app developed by Johns Hopkins Medicine as part of a study to help patients detect and track their seizures, missed medications and other triggers. When a seizure is imminent, patients participate in responsiveness tests and then complete brief surveys afterward. Seizures are logged as they occur so doctors can review them later. And participants can set the app to automatically contact a designated caregiver when they initially report a seizure or if they fail to respond to an alert from the seizure detector.
O’Donnell said that when she felt the onset of an aura, which can be an unusual feeling or movement that might be a harbinger of a seizure, she checked her heart rate on the Apple Watch. The higher her rate, the closer she is to having a seizure.
“When I feel my wrist buzz, I know I need to find somewhere to lay down and someone I can tell that will understand,” O’Donnell said. “If not, the app will text my emergency contact for me. That is my solace.”