Mountain View, CA – Atrial Fibrillation, the most common heart arrhythmia, is a leading cause of strokes and affects over 30 million people worldwide. Determined to help detect abnormalities sooner, AliveCor, led by ex-Googler Vic Gundotra, created Kardia Band- the first EKG detection smartwatch accessory to receive FDA approval.
Installed like any other Apple Watch band, this simple to use tool reads a user’s EKG with a touch of a button and in turn sends the results to the user’s Apple Watch. If anything abnormal is detected, it automatically sends an alert in the form of a PDF to the patient’s physician.
This on-the-go application allows at-risk patients and their doctors to better monitor their heart health, uncovers any unknown issues, and eliminates the need for frequent and expensive trips to the physician’s office for testing.
You can read more about the approval here.
Why this matters –
This is another great example of how patients can easily manage a condition and quickly relay the results to their physician if problems exist. However, a new trend we’re following in 2018 puts a spotlight on the growing concern of those patients that don’t have access to these technological advances and/or are even tech illiterate. The gap continues to widen not only on health illiteracy, but also the technology that supports our health, leaving doctors scratching their heads on how to help patients that don’t have access.
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