Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Mar 1, 2019
Date Accepted: May 14, 2019
mHealth Devices' Accuracy of Screening for Atrial Fibrillation
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mobile health devices can be used for diagnosis of atrial fibrillation. Early diagnosis allows better treatment and prevention of secondary diseases like stroke. While there is a vast number of different mobile health devices to screen for atrial fibrillation, their reliability varies due to different technological approaches.
Objective:
We aim to systematically review available studies, which assess the accuracy of mobile health devices in screening for atrial fibrillation. The goal of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of available technologies, specific characteristics and all relevant studies on their accuracy.
Methods:
PubMed and Web of Science are searched from 2014 until January 2019. Additionally, we add relevant studies, which we found in other literature reviews. Our systematic review is performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses. We restrict the search by year of publication, language, non-invasive methods and focus on diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.
Results:
We found 468 relevant studies. After removing duplicates and excluding ineligible records, there were 34 studies left. Studies vary among different mobile health devices, their application setting and study populations. Specific variations in accuracy are listed for all categories of devices.
Conclusions:
Our systematic review identifies different technologies for screening for atrial fibrillation with mobile health device. A specific technology’s suitability depends on the underlying form of atrial fibrillation that is to be diagnosed. With a suitable use of mobile health, early diagnosis and early treatment of atrial fibrillation are possible. Successful application of mobile health technologies can contribute to significantly lowering cost of illness of atrial fibrillation.
Citation
