A new study has found that wearable heart monitors can help doctors detect more cases of atrial fibrillation (AFib), a common heart rhythm problem that increases the risk of stroke.
But while these monitors found 52% more AFib cases than usual care, the study didn’t show that they actually reduced the number of people hospitalized for stroke.
The research was led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute and involved around 12,000 people in the United States. All participants were at least 70 years old and had no known history of AFib at the start of the study.
Half of them were randomly selected to wear a patch-style heart monitor for 14 days, while the other half received regular medical care without any special monitoring.
After about 15 months, doctors found that the group using the wearable monitors had a 52% higher detection rate of atrial fibrillation compared to the usual care group. That means the wearable monitors were clearly better at finding hidden AFib.
However, the study did not find any reduction in stroke-related hospitalizations or overall stroke cases. There was also no increase in hospitalizations for bleeding, which is important because treating AFib often involves blood-thinning medications.
AFib can be dangerous if left untreated. It raises the risk of ischemic stroke, which happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked. Fortunately, if AFib is detected early, this risk can be greatly reduced with oral anticoagulant (blood-thinning) medications.
The idea behind the study was to see if screening older adults using wearable devices could lead to earlier treatment and prevent strokes.
Dr. Renato Lopes, who led the study, explained that while the devices did help find more cases of AFib, the trial was not able to show that this led to fewer strokes. One reason is that the study had to stop early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The original plan was to enroll 52,000 people, which would have made it large enough to determine whether AFib screening really helps prevent strokes. But with only about 12,000 participants, the study didn’t have the statistical power to provide a clear answer.
Even though the results are not conclusive, the researchers believe they’ve gained valuable insights. One important takeaway is that the entire process—recruiting patients online, mailing the wearable monitors to their homes, and guiding them virtually—worked well.
This virtual approach could be used in other studies and might help bring health research to more people, especially those who can’t easily visit clinics.
In short, wearable heart monitors may help doctors find more cases of atrial fibrillation, but it’s still unclear whether that leads to better health outcomes like fewer strokes. Larger and longer studies are needed to answer that question. Still, this research shows that new technology and remote health tools can play a role in modern heart care.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about how to eat to prevent stroke, and diets high in flavonoids could help reduce stroke risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and wild blueberries can benefit your heart and brain.
The study is published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
