A smart technology wearable wristband device could automatically detect cardiac arrest, potentially leading to faster medical assistance and improved chances of survival if it occurs outside of a hospital, according to new research published today. Circulation: Arrhythmia and electrophysiologya peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Heart Association.
The DETECT‑1b study analyzed data from 49 Dutch adults with heart rhythm abnormalities who underwent medical procedures that temporarily induced life-threatening heart rhythms during routine procedures to correct arrhythmias. Pulseless ventricular tachycardia (pVT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) was induced during treatment. Ventricular fibrillation is considered the most serious heart rhythm abnormality and is extremely dangerous and can lead to sudden cardiac death.
An algorithm-based wearable wristband detected cardiac arrest 92% of the time.
Our findings are important because many out-of-hospital cardiac arrests are unwitnessed. Smart technology wristbands that can automatically detect cardiac arrest and issue a warning could act as digital witnesses. By automatically notifying emergency services and nearby trained responders, the device could help help arrive sooner, potentially significantly improving the chances of survival. ”
Judith Bonne, MD, lead study author, cardiologist, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
The study investigated whether a medically certified smart technology wristband that continuously monitors vital signs could detect when the heart suddenly stops pumping blood. The studied device uses a light-based technique (photoplethysmography algorithm) to measure changes in blood flow in the wrist.
Research results
- A total of 59 shockable cardiac arrest events were recorded. A shockable rhythm can be corrected by a shock from an AED (Automated External Defibrillator).
- Cardiac arrest was accurately detected in 92% of cases. Specifically, 100% for ventricular fibrillation and 90% for pulseless ventricular tachycardia.
- Nine events were classified as false positives during 125 hours of recording.
- In the per-patient analysis, the accuracy of detecting irregular rhythms was 92%, considering only the first event per person.
This wrist-based photoplethysmography algorithm differs from previous approaches to detecting cardiac arrest because it allows for continuous and unobtrusive monitoring in daily life, said study lead author Ruth Edgar, MSc, a physician-skilled physician at Radboud University Medical Center. Many smartwatches on the market use similar sensors. However, most are not designed to detect cardiac arrest.
“This is the first study to externally validate such an algorithm using patient data, which is an important step toward developing reliable detection systems that can be used in the real world,” she said.
In future applications, the study’s algorithms could be used to alert nearby lay rescuers, emergency services, or both when a person in cardiac arrest is detected. “The goal is to connect the wristband to the Dutch emergency command center and volunteer response network, so that when a cardiac arrest is detected, nearby rescuers or an ambulance can be immediately alerted,” Bonds said.
Although this is a small study, the results are interesting, said Cameron Dezfulrian, MD, FAHA, chair of the American Heart Association’s Resuscitation Science Symposium Program Committee, who was not involved in the study.
“What’s more impressive than this technology’s ability to detect cardiac arrest is the fairly low rate of false positives it detects,” said Dezfulian, a senior faculty member in the department of pediatrics and critical care at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. “This study is consistent with findings from Canadian and U.S. studies that show this technology has great potential.
“Pulseless electrical activity remains the most commonly occurring rhythm in all cardiac arrests, but this represents a minority of the validation data for such wearable sensors,” Dezfleurian said. “Further research will be important.”
This study was conducted in a controlled clinical setting, which has limitations. The effectiveness and reliability of the system in real-world situations still needs to be evaluated in future research, Bonds said.
Research details, background and design:
- DETECT-1b was conducted among 49 adults who wore smart technology wristbands while undergoing ventricular tachycardia ablation or subcutaneous cardioverter defibrillator implantation at multiple institutions collaborating to collect data on participants (allowing for increased generalizability and statistical power).
- The median age of participants was 66 years, and 41 (84%) participants were male.
- Seven people received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator and 43 had an ablation, a procedure that destroys small areas of heart tissue that cause rapid, irregular heartbeats.
- Researchers evaluated more than 125 hours of data for the cardiac arrest warning algorithm.
The research is part of the wider DETECT project, which is a collaboration between several hospitals and a Dutch company to develop a smart wristband to automatically detect cardiac arrest and alert emergency services.
sauce:
american heart association
Reference magazines:
Edgar, R.et al. (2026). Automated cardiac arrest detection using wrist-worn photoplethysmography: External validation in patients with inducible shockable cardiac arrest (DETECT-1b). Circulation: Arrhythmia and electrophysiology. DOI: 10.1161/circep.125.014708. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCEP.125.014708
