Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jan 30, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Jan 30, 2024 - Feb 21, 2024
Date Accepted: Jul 18, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Examining the Light Heart mobile device application for assessing human pulse interval and heart rate variability: A validation study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Pulse Interval is a biomarker of psychological and physiological health. Pulse interval can now be assessed using a mobile phone apps, which allows expands researchers’ ability to assess pulse interval in the real world. Prior implementation, measurement accuracy should be established.
Objective:
The present investigation evaluated the validity of the Light Heart mobile application to measure pulse interval and pulse rate variability in healthy young adults.
Methods:
Validity was assessed by comparing pulse interval and standard deviation of normal pulse intervals (SDNN) obtained by Light Heart to the gold-standard, ECG, in 14 young healthy individuals (24 ± 5 years, 9 females) in a seated posture.
Results:
Mean pulse interval (Light Heart: 859 ± 113 ms; ECG: 857 ± 112 ms) demonstrated a strong positive linear correlation (r = 0.99, P < 0.0001) and strong agreement (Intraclass correlation = 1.00, 95% confidence interval: 0.99, 1.00) between techniques. The Bland-Altman plot demonstrated good agreement for mean pulse interval measured with Light Heart and ECG with evidence of fixed bias (-1.56 ms, 95% confidence interval: -5.2 to 2.1 ms) suggesting Light Heart overestimates pulse interval by a small margin. When Bland-Altman plots were constructed for each participant’s beat-by-beat pulse interval data, all participants demonstrated strong agreement between Light Heart and ECG with no evidence of fixed bias between measures. Heart rate variability, assessed by SDNN, demonstrated strong agreement between techniques (Light Heart: 73 ± 23 ms; ECG: 73 ± 22 ms; r = 0.99, P < 0.0001; Intraclass correlation = 0.99, 95% confidence interval: 0.97, 1.00).
Conclusions:
This study provides evidence to suggest that the Light Heart mobile application provides valid measures of pulse interval and heart rate variability in healthy young adults.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
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