Published in:
01-03-2022 | Electrocardiography | Original Article
Initial evaluation of a novel electrocardiography sensor-embedded fabric wear during a full marathon
Authors:
Daiki Ousaka, Kenta Hirai, Noriko Sakano, Mizuki Morita, Madoka Haruna, Kazuya Hirano, Takahiro Yamane, Akira Teraoka, Kazuo Sanou, Susumu Oozawa, Shingo Kasahara
Published in:
Heart and Vessels
|
Issue 3/2022
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Abstract
Sudden cardiac accident (SCA) during a marathon is a concern due to the popularity of the sport. Preventive strategies, such as cardiac screening and deployment of automated external defibrillators have controversial cost-effectiveness. We investigated the feasibility of use of a new electrocardiography (ECG) sensor-embedded fabric wear (SFW) during a marathon as a novel preventive strategy against SCA. Twenty healthy volunteers participated in a full marathon race. They were equipped with a SFW hitoe® with a transmitter connected via Bluetooth to a standard smartphone for continuous ECG recording. All data were stored in a smartphone and used to analyze the data acquisition rate. The adequate data acquisition rate was > 90% in 13, 30–90% in 3, and < 10% in 4 runners. All of 4 runners with poorly recorded data were female. Inadequate data acquisition was significantly associated with the early phase of the race compared with the mid phase (P = 0.007). Except for 3 runners with poor heart rate data, automated software calculation was significantly associated with manual analysis for both the mean (P < 0.001) and maximum (P = 0.014) heart rate. We tested the feasibility of continuously recording cardiac data during a marathon using a new ECG sensor-embedded wearable device. Although data from 65% of runners were adequately recorded, female runners and the early phase of the race tended to have poor data acquisition. Further improvements in device ergonomics and software are necessary to improve ability to detect abnormal ECGs that may precede SCA.