Monitoring of wearable long-range ambulatory electrocardiographic monitor for a community-based homebound elderly population

To investigate the results of ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring in a community-based homebound elderly population and to explore the applicability of wearable long-range ambulatory ECG monitor for them.

Elderly volunteers were recruited in Shuangbei Community, Shapingba District, Chongqing, from November 2021 to June 2023. A single-lead wearable ambulatory ECG recorder was applied to them to obtain ECG for 7 consecutive days. The adverse reactions, acceptability, monitoring duration, and arrhythmia detection rate during the wearing were described and recorded. Serious arrhythmic events included frequent atrial premature, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation (AF), frequent ventricular premature, and RR intervals ≥5 s.

There were 416 individuals enrolled, with a mean age of 71.2±6.6 years, and a male percentage of 36.1% (150 men). Finally, 384 (92.3%) participants completed the wearing of the ECG monitor for 7 d, with an average time of 159.2±29.4 h. There were 179 participants (48.5%) reporting no discomfort during wearing, and 175 ones (47.4%) feeling itchy at the wearing site. The monitoring results showed that the common arrhythmias were atrial premature contractions (97.1%), premature ventricular contractions (93.3%), atrial tachycardia (84.6%), bradycardia (46.6%), frequent atrial premature contractions (15.1%), ventricular tachycardia (13.2%), and long RR interval (11.8%). Among them, 29.1% of the participants experienced serious arrhythmic events, and the detection rate of certain serious arrhythmic events was comparatively higher in the individuals ≥70 years of age and those with history of previous cardiac disease.

The detection rate of common arrhythmias is quite high in the community-based homebound elderly population. A 7-day long-range ambulatory ECG monitoring may be appropriate.