... the optical heart rate monitors varied in accuracy... of intensity, from 2 to 6 miles per hour( mph), with rests between each exercise.
Health Technology needed to determine which devices are more reliable for use in clinical care.”
An adult’ s average resting heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute; maximum heart rate is about 220 bpm minus the person’ s age, according to the American Heart Association.
An electrocardiogram records the heart’ s electrical activity. It’ s the“ gold standard” for measuring heart rate, Gillinov said. A chest strap, which also monitors electrical activity, is just as accurate, he added.
Wrist-worn heart monitors use optical sensing technology to detect heart rate. They emit LED light to measure blood flow in and out of tissue, and a sensor picks up that data and converts it into heart rate readings using proprietary algorithms, Gillinov explained.
In the study, published online Oct. 12 in the journal JAMA Cardiology, the Cleveland Clinic team recruited 50 healthy men and women, with an average age of 37. Participants wore a Polar H7 chest-strap monitor and were randomly assigned to wear two different wrist-worn monitors during 3-minute intervals of exercise on a treadmill.
Heart rate readings were recorded when participants were at rest and at the 3-minute mark of each exercise. Participants exercised at increasing levels
... the optical heart rate monitors varied in accuracy... of intensity, from 2 to 6 miles per hour( mph), with rests between each exercise.
The researchers also measured people’ s heart rates at three points during their recovery.
Compared with electrocardiogram, the optical heart rate monitors varied in accuracy, the investigators found.
At 2 and 3 mph, median differences of roughly 9 and 7 bpm, respectively, were recorded between the Basis Peak.
With Fitbit, researchers recorded median differences of approximately 7 and 6 bpm at 4 and 6 mph, respectively.
“ We’ re not being nitpicky because as people moved, we had readings that could be off by 30 and 40 bpm, so it’ s not a small difference,” Gillinov said. His advice?“ If you’ re an elite athlete and you’ re using your heart rate to guide training, or you’ re a cardiac patient who’ s been given specific heart rate targets or ranges, use a chest strap,” he advised.
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