While I think this will be a useful feature, I have a real problem with them referring to it as an ECG. The implication when you say "ECG" is that this will be the same 12-lead ECG that you receive from a medical professional, and it is not. This is a single-lead, which we generally refer to as a "rhythm strip" rather than an ECG. A rhythm strip will tell you about the heart rhythm, but does not contain all the useful information in a 12-lead ECG, like whether there are signs of ischemia (heart muscle that is not getting enough oxygen), evidence of a prior heart attack, or heart muscle hypertrophy. I am concerned about a false sense of security if, say, a person is having chest pain and then they think they can rely on their watch to tell them if they're having a heart attack.
The second problem is the watch suggesting someone may have atrial fibrillation based on the regularity of their heartbeat. Yes, monitoring for the regularity of a heartbeat can tell you there may be an arrhythmia. But that's what the watch should say, NOT that you may have atrial fibrillation, which can only be diagnosed by checking the heart rhythm, and even then sometimes the diagnosis is difficult. The watch should simply say your heartbeat is irregular and suggest doing the "ECG" function, which you can take to your doctor.
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You're wrong.
[doublepost=1536843024][/doublepost]I think this is a cool wow feature but mostly useless. I was also disappointed to see they can only recognize normal or atrial fibrillation - Afib can already be identified by the heart rate monitor! I hope with machine learning they can make progress on identifying more abnormal rhythms. Given the power of modern tech the algorithms for identifying rhythms could use some machine learning magic and updating.
Nope, that's the problem - a-fib cannot be identified by anything but a rhythm reading, and even then sometimes it's difficult. Just looking for an irregular rhythm does not tell you the etiology of that abnormal rhythm. Thus a heart rate monitor cannot identify afib, though it can suggest a rhythm abnormality.
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These are one and the same.
