Wearable Devices Combined with Artificial Intelligence—A Future Technology for Atrial Fibrillation Detection?

Abstract

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in the world. The arrhythmia and methods developed to cure it have been studied for several decades. However, professionals worldwide are still working to improve treatment quality. One novel technology that can be useful is a wearable device. The two most used recordings from these devices are photoplethysmogram (PPG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. As the price lowers, these devices will become significant technology to increase sensitivity, for monitoring and for treatment quality support. This is important as AF can be challenging to detect in advance, especially during home monitoring. Modern artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to respond to this challenge. AI has already achieved state of the art results in many applications, including bioengineering. In this perspective, we discuss wearable devices combined with AI for AF detection, an approach that enables a new era of possibilities for the future.