NEW ORLEANS — You have a chance to join a free study, where your health is monitored just by wearing a smartwatch. And it's only happening in Louisiana. Here is a first look at how it works.
Margaret Maxwell had concerns about one day having heart health problems.
“My mother died of a heart attack when I was in my twenties,” said Margaret Maxwell.
So, years ago she wore a smartwatch that told her sometimes she had AFib, an abnormal heartbeat. So, she turned to Dr. Nassir Marrouche, Director of the Heart and Vascular Institute at Tulane for treatment.
“I had the heart ablation, which of course is like getting a whole new battery. Your heart is rewired. I was like a different person. I truly feel like it saved my life,” said Maxwell.
Now today, Margaret is signing up for a first-of-its-kind, ground-breaking study with Dr. Marrouche. Ten thousand people across Louisiana will get a Samsung Galaxy 6 smartwatch that will monitor, in real-time, many aspects of your health, all day and all night while you sleep. It's like having a personal doctor's evaluation with every heartbeat.
“The pill that works today, may not work on you in six months from now," said Dr. Marrouche. "As a patient, your disease is progressing. We are helping our patients to be ahead of their disease, prevent the progression of diseases if they have one, and if they are healthy, to prevent diseases."
And if you join the study, you will get a tremendous benefit, because Louisiana has one of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in the country.
So, Tulane researchers will be collecting data points to learn how to better treat all patients in the future.
“For example, we know for fact, that's 100 percent, today in my clinic, I'm seeing 24 patients," Dr. Marrouche said. "Twenty-four of them at certain times, either had heart failure, or hypertension, or sleep apnea. That's why they're having AFib today. So, if I can tell you now you're going to have AFib in six months, I can do so much to prevent it,” he explained.
And that’s what Margaret did before her heart condition got worse.
“My participation in the study will help others, so they can hopefully not have any incidences and can live long lives,” said Maxwell.
The study is free and open to adults who are either healthy, or have any heart risk factors, including sleep apnea, diabetes, or high blood pressure.
You can have either an I-Phone or an Android.
And you have to have a medical record with Tulane or any LCMC doctor.
Call: 504-988-3058 or visit HeartBeatStudy.com. You can also email heartbeat@tulane.edu for more information.
Click here to see if you qualify.
Read the study details below:
The Health Electronic Assessment of Risks and Trends using Biometric Equipment and Technology (HEARTBEAT) study is an observational, prospective cohort study conducted by Dr. Nassir Marrouche (Director of TRIAD Center, Professor of Medicine, Vice Chair, Innovation & Entrepreneurship) at Tulane University. This study leverages health and fitness features from a Samsung smartwatch to study the association between different biometric signal patterns (heartrate, blood pressure, body composition, and EKG) and the incidence of cardiovascular events. The study's aim is to explore the potential of utilizing non-invasive digital health technology for early intervention, with the goal of avoiding hard clinical outcomes and improving cardiovascular health management.
This study will include 10,000 patients older than 18 years who fulfill any of the following inclusion criteria:
• Patients with at least one cardiovascular disease (heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, history of stroke/TIA, or diabetes mellitus). OR:
• Patients visiting a primary care provider for any reason without any of the previously mentioned cardiovascular diseases.
• The patients must see either an LCMC or Tulane physician The duration of the study will be one year for each participant.
During this time, patients will be followed up for one year using a Samsung smartwatch and a companion smartphone application. Electronic medical records (EMR) will be surveyed for medical and clinical patient data. Patients participating in the study may gain a deeper understanding of their heart health and fitness. The smartwatch will allow participants to monitor their activity, including heart rate, SpO2, and step count. Additionally, as part of the study, participants are required to perform daily and weekly activity checks which includes a daily 30-sec single-channel EKG. The companion smartphone app will provide participants summary reports of the health and fitness measures being collected from the smartwatch including the EKG recordings.
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