Can the Apple Watch differentiate between Atrial Flutter and Atrial Fibrillation?
Can the Apple Watch differentiate between Atrial Flutter and Atrial Fibrillation?
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Can the Apple Watch differentiate between Atrial Flutter and Atrial Fibrillation?
The ECG app can record your heartbeat and rhythm using the electrical heart sensor on Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, or Series 6* and then check the recording for atrial fibrillation (AFib), a form of irregular rhythm.
The ECG app records an electrocardiogram which represents the electrical pulses that make your heart beat. The ECG app checks these pulses to get your heart rate and see if the upper and lower chambers of your heart are in rhythm. If they’re out of rhythm, that could be AFib.
The ECG app can record your heartbeat and rhythm using the electrical heart sensor on Apple Watch Series 4, Series 5, or Series 6* and then check the recording for atrial fibrillation (AFib), a form of irregular rhythm.
The ECG app records an electrocardiogram which represents the electrical pulses that make your heart beat. The ECG app checks these pulses to get your heart rate and see if the upper and lower chambers of your heart are in rhythm. If they’re out of rhythm, that could be AFib.
Thank you. However, I think the upper and lower chambers could be out of rhythm with atrial flutter as well, since with Flutter, the atrial chamber may beat 4 times for every one ventrical beat. But it sounds like the watch can't tell flutter and fibrillation apart. I think fibrillation is more serious because it is more likely to cause a stroke. I have both, and that is why I was hoping the watch could tell the difference.
Actually, in atrial flutter, the atria and ventricles are in rhythm. E.g. in 4:1 flutter, every 4th atrial beat is conducted and causes the ventricular to contract. The other 3 beats can’t conduct to the ventricular because the rate is too fast and the pathway is not receptive. In atrial fibrillation, the atrial activity is chaotic and only random impulses are conducted thus leading to an irregular ventricular rate. Note that very premature extra beats can fool your Apple Watch into thinking you might be in atrial fib.
No, it cannot. atrial flutter by definition is a regularly regular rhythm, atrial fibrillation is an irregularly irregular rhythm. Since flutter is regular, it will be interpreted as a tachycadria (fast heart beat) rather than atrial fibrillation.
Actually, I think atrial flutter would also be considered an irregular rhythm. However, I appreciate your answer because it sounds like the Watch cannot tell the difference between Atrial flutter and fibrillation, which is my main concern. Thanks.
Thank you!!! That was an extremely accurate and helpful response because I have been deliberating over having an ablation to correct A-Fib. I will discuss with my Doctor, but I suspect that most of my Apple Watch 6 Atrial Fibrillation indications are actually Atrial Flutter, as during a 30 second Watch ECG, my Heart Rate is still very low, I have no symptoms, and I had been previously diagnosed by a Doctor as having Atrial Flutter with a premature beat. Your answer correlates exactly with what I have read, and with what I believe is my situation. Thanks again!
Can the Apple Watch differentiate between Atrial Flutter and Atrial Fibrillation?