Researchers create a smartphone app to identify heart failure

CardioSignal and the University of Turku have created a new technique that uses a smartphone to assess cardiac activity and identify heart failure. This innovation is the result of research done in Finland and the US by five different organizations.

Heart failure is a common condition that happens all around the world when the heart cannot pump blood efficiently. Its symptoms, which include exhaustion and shortness of breath, overlap with other illnesses, making diagnosis difficult. Because there isn’t a straightforward diagnostic test, in-depth assessments including medical consultations and imaging tests are required.

A non-invasive technique called gyrocardiography examines the vibrations in the chest that represent heart activity. This method uses the motion sensors on the smartphone to record vibrations—even ones that are inaudible with a stethoscope. This method has been improved over the last ten years by researchers from CardioSignal and the University of Turku.

About 1,000 people, including 200 heart failure patients, participated in their new study, which was carried out at Stanford University Hospital in the US and Turku and Helsinki University Hospitals in Finland. Positive findings point to unique trends in heart failure-related smartphone sensor data, which may make effective diagnosis possible.

Cardiologist Antti Saraste believes that the results provide hope for more straightforward identification of heart failure. Accurate movement analysis from smartphones has the potential to transform basic healthcare by offering a rapid and easily available diagnostic tool.

Heart failure, which affects 1% to 2% of the Finnish population and is more common in older persons, highlights the significance of early detection for symptom treatment and financial savings. CardioSignal and the University of Turku are working together to improve overall health outcomes, avoid problems, and improve diagnostics.