Abstract

Aims

To find out the usefulness of the wearable single-lead Electrocardiography (ECG) monitoring to detect cardiac arrhythmia that may occur during exercise. 

Methods

We analyzed data from 16 athelets (6 cyclists and 10 runners) participated in this study, (age 43±7 years; all male). Prior and post to the exercise, all atheltes underwent 12 leads ECG and routine laboratory test. The wearable single lead ECG monitoring device (S-Patch) and the heart rate (HR) monitoring with photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor (Garmin) were both applied during the training period for the 3 hours. HR data from S-patch were compared to those from the Garmin. An in-house machine-learning algorithm was applied to identify notable arrhythmias on S-Patch recordings after exercise.

Results

S-patch and Garmin both were well recorded HR during the exercise (6 of 6 athletes and 8 or 10 athletes, r=0.978). However, two runners failed to record HR and ECG clearly due to detachment problems of S-patch (2 of 10 athletes). S-patch could identified well enough the significant arrhythmias during exercise (eg., exercise induced premature ventricular contraction [PVC]) but it was more sensitive to noise during exercise than Garmin. Episodes of PVC were identified by S-patch in two athelets (one in the resting status, the other in the exercise) while conventional HR data from Garmin could not noted these features. 

Conclusion 

The application of wearable ECG monitoring during the endurance exercise (cycling and running) is a feasible and useful method for the early recording of cardiac arrhythmia of athletes, whose evaluation could lead to unforeseen events.