a new study published in Heart Rhythm magazineon Tuesday (2/21), suggests that devices such as smartwatches and smartphones can pose serious risks to people with implantable cardiac electronic devices (IEDs), a category to which the pacemaker belongs.
The interaction between electronic devices in general and, more recently, smartphones and smartwatches capable of performing cardiac monitoring, have been the subject of research in the scientific community. Previous studies suggest that almost all, if not all, implantable cardiac devices experience interference due to magnetic fields when electronic devices are nearby.
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To carry out the study, researchers from the University of Utah, in the United States, evaluated how these cardiac resynchronization devices work. They applied very small, imperceptible electrical currents to people wearing heart monitoring devices. These currents resemble those emitted by smart accessories.
The pulses generated electrical interference in the accessories that exceeded guidelines accepted by the Food and Drug Administration (US health regulatory agency), and impaired the proper functioning of the DCEIs, according to the scientists.
stimuli
Benjamin Sanchzez Terrones, lead author of the research, explains that the results, determined through careful simulations and bench tests, do not pose an immediate or clear risk to patients using the trackers. However, he states that the different levels of current emitted can result in interruptions of stimulation of the devices or unnecessary cardiac shocks.
The scientist adds that the findings call for future clinical studies examining patients with DCEIs and smart accessories:
“Our research is the first to study devices that employ bioimpedance sensing technology, in addition to uncovering potential interference issues with DCIEs. We need to test in a broader cohort of devices and in patients with these devices”, he says in a release note for the work.
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