New smartphone app lets users detect fatal heart conditions at home
Being able to detect fatal heart conditions before they kill you is a good thing... enough said.
Key takeaways
- The most common type of Arrhythmia, a form of atrial fibrillation, is an irregular beating of the heart that can lead to stroke, blood clots, or heart failure if left unchecked, and it’s often deadly.
- In turn this then got them wondering if they could use the tiny accelerometers in a standard smartphone to detect the condition.
- A paper on the research was recently published in the Circulation Journal.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2018) 'New smartphone app lets users detect fatal heart conditions at home', 311 Institute, 31 March. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/new-smartphone-app-lets-users-detect-fatal-heart-conditions-at-home/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
The most common type of Arrhythmia, a form of atrial fibrillation, is an irregular beating of the heart that can lead to stroke, blood clots, or heart failure if left unchecked, and it’s often deadly. Furthermore, unless you’re using an electrocardiogram it can be very difficult to detect but soon all that could change and all you’ll need to detect one of the world’s deadliest heart conditions is a smartphone app.
Back in 2011 scientists from the University of Turku in Finland collaborated with colleagues at Turku University Hospital to see if small accelerometers could be used to detect the tell tale tiny chest movements associated with Arrhythmia and it turned out that they could. In turn this then got them wondering if they could use the tiny accelerometers in a standard smartphone to detect the condition.
Now, six years on from that early research, the team, which is led by researcher Tero Koivisto, have created an app that requires the smartphone to simply be placed upon the patient's chest, where it detects and analyses the micromovements caused by their heartbeat in order to detect the condition.
In a blind study conducted on 300 patients from the hospital, half of whom had Arrhythmia, the app was 96 percent accurate at detecting the condition, and even more impressively it was able to do it even though many of the patients also had other pre-existing heart conditions.
The app is now being developed further and it’s hoped it will soon be commercialised by a spinoff company called Precordior and, just like some of the other breakthroughs recently that are also helping democratise access to healthcare, such as ultrasound on a smartphone, and being able to use your voice to detect and diagnose disease, or your smartphone’s camera to diagnose dangerous cancers, the new technology will give patients around the world yet another powerful tool that they can use to check and monitor their own health with.
A paper on the research was recently published in the Circulation Journal.
Meanwhile elsewhere scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong have also developed an atrial fibrillation detection app, but rather than detecting micromovements it uses the smartphone’s camera to analyse subtle change in the patients facial skin colour that are often another indicator of a fluctuating heart rate. Let the democratisation of healthcare continue!
What this means for your organisation
Screening goes mass market.
Billions of phones already carry the needed sensor. Early detection could reach people who never see a specialist.
Prevention saves cost.
Catching irregular heartbeats early can prevent strokes and heart failure. That lowers the cost of later care.
Care pathways must adapt.
More home tests mean more results to review. Providers need clear routes from an app alert to treatment.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
- How would mass home screening change demand on our services?
- Could we offer phone based checks to our members or staff?
- What happens after an app flags a possible condition?
The trends and technologies behind this story
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s article and 311 data. First published on Fanatical Futurist.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
Being able to detect fatal heart conditions before they kill you is a good thing... enough said.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
Read full bio
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 17-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder, President and Futurist of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity programme, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Heart arrhythmia en.wikipedia.org
- CIRCULATIONAHA.117.032804 circ.ahajournals.org
- University of Hong Kong hku.hk
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 31 March 2018. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2018). New smartphone app lets users detect fatal heart conditions at home. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/new-smartphone-app-lets-users-detect-fatal-heart-conditions-at-home/
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