Smartwatches and Wearable Fitness Trackers Could Trigger Heart Attacks in Vulnerable Patients

Print

Link copied

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Smartwatches and wearable devices like a Fitbit or Apple Watch could trigger a heart attack in vulnerable patients, a new study warns. Scientists with the University of Utah say these wearable gadgets can interfere with medical devices such as pacemakers.

“This study raises a red flag,” says lead author Dr. Benjamin Sanchez Terrones, a computer engineer at the University of Utah, in a media release. “We have done this work in simulations and benchtop testing following Food and Drug Administration accepted guidelines, and these gadgets interfere with the correct functioning of the CIEDs we tested. These results call for future clinical studies evaluating the translation of our findings to patients wearing CIEDs and using these wearable devices.”

Read more