Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38630867›Full record

ArticleEuropace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology2024

Real-world validation of smartphone-based photoplethysmography for rate and rhythm monitoring in atrial fibrillation.

Henri Gruwez, Daniel Ezzat, Tim Van Puyvelde, Sebastiaan Dhont, Evelyne Meekers, Liesbeth Bruckers, Femke Wouters, Michiel Kellens, Hugo Van Herendael, Maximo Rivero-Ayerza and 3 more

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed
10.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Improving atrial fibrillation or flutter detection and management by smartphone-based photoplethysmography rhythm monitoring following cardiac surgery: a pragmatic randomized trial.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
    Trial
  2. Wearable smartwatches for atrial fibrillation detection and burden estimation after ablation: comparison with continuous monitoring.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026
    Article
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  9. Implementation of new concise care pathways into a software tool to detect and manage comorbidities in older patients with atrial fibrillation: the Horizon 2020 EHRA-PATHS project.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
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  12. State of the Art of Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Electrophysiology in 2025: A Scientific Statement of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) of the ESC, the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS), and the ESC Working Group on E-Cardiology.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
    Article
  13. Article
  14. External validation of a machine learning-based classification algorithm for ambulatory heart rhythm diagnostics in pericardioversion atrial fibrillation patients using smartphone photoplethysmography: the SMARTBEATS-ALGO study.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2025
    Article
  15. Initial experience with a virtual atrial fibrillation clinic after pulmonary vein isolation using follow-up with photoplethysmography.Netherlands heart journal : monthly journal of the Netherlands Society of Cardiology and the Netherlands Heart Foundation · 2025
    Article
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  20. Smartphone app-based approximation of time spent with atrial fibrillation and symptoms in patients after catheter ablation: data from the TeleCheck-AF project.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Henri GruwezDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-9169-265X
Daniel EzzatLimburg Clinical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500  Hasselt, Belgium.ORCID 0009-0002-6850-4275
Tim Van PuyveldeDepartment of Cardiovascular Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID 0009-0002-3541-0264
Sebastiaan DhontDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-5615-3191
Evelyne MeekersDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-0204-0132
Liesbeth BruckersResearch Institute Center for Statistics (CENSTAT), Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-6978-3002
Femke WoutersLimburg Clinical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500  Hasselt, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-4420-6372
Michiel KellensLimburg Clinical Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, 3500  Hasselt, Belgium.ORCID 0009-0001-6873-3273
Hugo Van HerendaelDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-9603-2370
Maximo Rivero-AyerzaDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0009-0005-8947-0467
Dieter NuyensDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0001-9390-3273
Peter HaemersDepartment of Cardiovascular Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-3024-1281
Laurent PisonDepartment of Cardiology, Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg, Synaps Park 1, 3600 Genk, Belgium.ORCID 0000-0002-8518-3330
Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg · BEHasselt University · BEKU Leuven · BE

Funding

Qompium NVScientific Research Flanders 1S83221N
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

aimsPhotoplethysmography- (PPG) based smartphone applications facilitate heart rate and rhythm monitoring in patients with paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF). Despite an endorsement from the European Heart Rhythm Association, validation studies in this setting are lacking. Therefore, we evaluated the accuracy of PPG-derived heart rate and rhythm classification in subjects with an established diagnosis of AF in unsupervised real-world conditions. METHODS AND

resultsFifty consecutive patients were enrolled, 4 weeks before undergoing AF ablation. Patients used a handheld single-lead electrocardiography (ECG) device and a fingertip PPG smartphone application to record 3907 heart rhythm measurements twice daily during 8 weeks. The ECG was performed immediately before and after each PPG recording and was given a diagnosis by the majority of three blinded cardiologists. A consistent ECG diagnosis was exhibited along with PPG data of sufficient quality in 3407 measurements. A single measurement exhibited good quality more often with ECG (93.2%) compared to PPG (89.5%; P < 0.001). However, PPG signal quality improved to 96.6% with repeated measurements. Photoplethysmography-based detection of AF demonstrated excellent sensitivity [98.3%; confidence interval (CI): 96.7-99.9%], specificity (99.9%; CI: 99.8-100.0%), positive predictive value (99.6%; CI: 99.1-100.0%), and negative predictive value (99.6%; CI: 99.0-100.0%). Photoplethysmography underestimated the heart rate in AF with 6.6 b.p.m. (95% CI: 5.8 b.p.m. to 7.4 b.p.m.). Bland-Altman analysis revealed increased underestimation in high heart rates. The root mean square error was 11.8 b.p.m.

conclusionSmartphone applications using PPG can be used to monitor patients with AF in unsupervised real-world conditions. The accuracy of AF detection algorithms in this setting is excellent, but PPG-derived heart rate may tend to underestimate higher heart rates.

Indexed as

Atrial FibrillationAlgorithmsElectrocardiographyHeart RateHumansPhotoplethysmographyPredictive Value of TestsSmartphoneAtrial fibrillationElectrocardiographyMobile healthPhotoplethysmographySmartphone

Identifiers

PMID38630867
PMCPMC11023210
OpenAlexW4394870147

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.