Belgium conducts large scale mHealth program to detect atrial fibrillation

Posted by anant singh on June 12th, 2019

Belgium had last year carried out a unique mHealth program that witnessed greater than 60,000 people tested for symptoms of atrial fibrillation (AF) using their smartphones – with around 800 being identified with symptoms of AF.

The program has been touted as one of the biggest population health screening programs that has ever been attempted and was carried out by Hasselt University researchers in Belgium. The program asked the participants to download FibriCheck, an mHealth app using a QR code that was advertised throughout Belgium. The application was downloaded by greater than 62,800 people, who were instructed to regularly monitor and measure their heart rhythm at least two times for eight days.

The measurements were classified into regular rhythm, possible AF, irregular rhythm or insufficient quality, and every irregular measurement was analyzed by medical technicians, who were under the supervision of cardiologists. The program was completed by 61,730 people, and out of those, 791 people, amounting to 1.3 percent, displayed heart rhythms that were indicative of atrial fibrillation. Out of this group, 72% mentioned no previous experience with symptoms of atrial fibrillation. The application makes use of pulse-plethysmography (PPG), which helps in tracking the heart rhythm using the camera of a smartphone.

The study was presented at the annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm’s Society, and this is the latest project regarding digital health intervention with the objective of identifying people with atrial fibrillation, with which more than 33.5 million people are affected annually around the world, as well as making improvements to the care management systems outside a hospital or doctor’s office. Care providers are on the lookout for reliable platforms, which can be used to measure and track a person’s heart rhythm, using mobile health technology that covers smartwatches, smartphones as well as other wearables that contain embedded sensors.

The main advantage of this program is that a large population is involved and makes use of a digital health platform which is readily available and easy to use, for the purpose of gathering and transmitting data to the care providers. The researchers hope that the expansion of the program outside of Belgium also takes place.

mHealth is a rapidly growing application in the digital health environment, and is expected to maintain a large market share and grow at a high rate in the coming years, according to a report by Grand View Research, Inc. The digital health market itself is expected to show a strong performance and grow at a rapid rate in the coming years, according to the report. Rising demand for remote monitoring services due to increasing incidences of chronic diseases across the globe is one of the factors propelling the growth of the market, the report states. Additionally, significant rise in the penetration of smartphones and other mobile apps among healthcare practitioners and physicians to track and access medical information is driving the digital health market. Health applications on smart devices are rapidly gaining prominence across the globe, and the popularity of the program in Belgium only signals a growing acceptance of digital health services.