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Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth

Date Submitted: Nov 25, 2023
Date Accepted: Oct 24, 2024

The final, peer-reviewed published version of this preprint can be found here:

Reliability and Accuracy of the Fitbit Charge 4 Photoplethysmography Heart Rate Sensor in Ecological Conditions: Validation Study

Ceugniez M, Devanne H, Hermand E

Reliability and Accuracy of the Fitbit Charge 4 Photoplethysmography Heart Rate Sensor in Ecological Conditions: Validation Study

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2025;13:e54871

DOI: 10.2196/54871

PMID: 39789790

PMCID: 11735015

Reliability and accuracy of a photoplethysmography heart rate sensor: a validation study of the Fitbit Charge 4 in ecological conditions

  • Maxime Ceugniez; 
  • Hervé Devanne; 
  • Eric Hermand

ABSTRACT

Background:

The use of wrist-worn photoplethysmography (PPG) heart rate (HR) sensors has been quickly increasing over the recent years. Wearables could be useful for researchers and individuals for their simplicity to set up and use. However, only a limited number of studies investigated the reliability and accuracy of these devices in non-laboratory controlled conditions.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was (1) to assess the accuracy and reliability of the PPG based HR sensor of the Fitbit Charge 4 (FC4) in ecological condition; (2) to quantify the potential variability caused by the nature of the activity.

Methods:

HR was simultaneously collected during various sport sessions with the FC4 and a Polar H10, as criterion. Skin tone was assessed with Fitzpatrick Scale. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland-Altman test determined reliability and accuracy of the sensor.

Results:

HR data of 26 students aged 21.1±5.8 years on averaged were recorded during 77.47 hours of physical activity. ICCs (and CCCs) for running and orienteering running were 0.900 (0.999) and 0.801 (0.932) respectively, whereas for badminton, tennis, bike and soccer, they were 0.365 (0.778), 0.421 (0.884), 0.658 (0.971) and 0.487 (0.809), respectively. Highest biases were found for badminton and soccer, whereas smallest was found for running.

Conclusions:

Researchers and individuals should not use the FC4 for measuring HR because of its LOA width and sensitivity to motion artifacts.


 Citation

Please cite as:

Ceugniez M, Devanne H, Hermand E

Reliability and Accuracy of the Fitbit Charge 4 Photoplethysmography Heart Rate Sensor in Ecological Conditions: Validation Study

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 2025;13:e54871

DOI: 10.2196/54871

PMID: 39789790

PMCID: 11735015

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