Heart Disease: A Global Cause for Concern

Source: American Heart Association, United Nations, Reuters, Association of American Medical Colleges, The Statistics Portal

Cardiovascular disease, known as CVD, is the leading cause of death for both men and women globally. More people die annually from CVDs than from any other cause. In 2015, an estimated 17.7 million people died from CVDs, representing 31%* of all global deaths. Of these deaths, an estimated 7.4 million were due to coronary heart disease, and 6.7 million were due to stroke, while 3.6 million people suffered from CVDs caused by other health issues.

* Source: World Health Organization

Separating benign from dangerous arrhythmias

Everyone has some type of arrhythmia. Fortunately, the majority of arrhythmias are simply normal variations of the heart’s rhythm. The key requirement in arrhythmia diagnosis is the ability to distinguish those that are benign from those that are dangerous.

Most cardiac deaths are due to these dangerous (malignant) arrhythmias and one of the main reasons for these deaths is the inability to get a timely and accurate diagnosis. To date, obtaining such an early warning was a time consuming and expensive problem for all – patients, doctors, hospitals and insurance companies.

Humeds changes this by providing a sophisticated monitoring solution that is both easy to use and regular, with fast and bi-directional communication between the doctor and patient, to deliver a vital early warning system.

Existing solutions are laborious and costly

Ambulatory ECG

  • This form of monitoring is often provided as an outpatient solution by hospitals. Whilst it provides an increased 12-lead ECG, it is often conducted within a hospital or medical practice, requiring the patient to travel and allocate extensive amounts of time.
  • The test is conducted within a relatively short period of time where the patient’s symptoms often fail to materialise.

Holter

  • Patients may not experience symptoms or cardiac arrhythmias during the recording period.
  • Holter monitoring has a low diagnostic yield, resulting in their limited ability to capture symptoms. They are particularly ineffective in tracking dangerous (malignant) arrhythmias that occur once a month or less frequently due to timing issues.

Loop recorders

  • The long-term use of this device is challenging because of its use of electrodes and how the device needs to be affixed to the skin, resulting in discomfort.
  • This more invasive procedure can rapidly see a waning of patient motivation.
  • Patients have difficulty in activating the recorder due to a relatively complicated procedure.

Single lead monitors

  • Some commercially available monitors offer only one lead. The resultant ECG reading may be inadequate for accurate diagnosis of more complex arrhythmias, for example wide QRS tachycardia or bradyarrhythmia.
  • These single lead devices demonstrate significant artefacts or low-quality signals in their recordings which render them inaccurate.

How can Humeds be used?

Heart rhythm recordings for active individuals:

  • Monitoring sports performance (both competitive and recreational sports)
  • Peak exercise ECGs can be easily recorded (despite sweating)
  • Exercise-related symptoms can be recorded in a few seconds
  • Monitoring high risk or stress-related jobs – palpitations related to occupational activities can be diagnosed
  • Anyone who is aware of the importance of cardiac health

Diagnosis of arrhythmia-related symptoms:

  • Palpitations
  • Irregular heart rhythms
  • Dizziness
  • Syncope (loss of consciousness)
  • Chest discomfort

Diagnosis of potentially dangerous arrhythmias in patients with heart diseases between check-ups:

  • Coronary (ischemic) heart diseases including angina pectoris, myocardial infarction
  • Degenerative heart diseases – cardiomyopathies (HCM, DCM..)
  • Inflammatory heart diseases – myocarditis
  • Postoperative follow-ups, after cardiac surgery
  • Follow-ups after RFA (ablation procedures)
  • Geriatric population and disabled patients

Follow-ups for patients with a diagnosed cardiac arrhythmia:

  • Patients who are not yet on medication, but need to be followed
  • Patients on antiarrhythmic drugs, and patients whose dosage can be adjusted based on remote ECG recordings

Screening asymptomatic patients with dangerous arrhythmias:

  • Identifying ECG changes that may cause malignant rhythm disorders
  • Atrial fibrillation (AF) screening: this is one of the leading causes of ischemic brain stroke
  • Sudden cardiac deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) that can be caused by unrecognized ECG changes
  • ECG changes in clinical trials (new medication, procedures…)