Assessment of Heart Rate Monitoring During Exercise With Smart Wristbands and a Heart Rhythm Patch: Validation and Comparison Study

Tse-Lun Wang; Hao-Yi Wu; Wei-Yun Wang; Chao-Wen Chen; Wu-Chien Chien; Chi-Ming Chu; Yi-Syuan Wu

doi:10.2196/52519

Assessment of Heart Rate Monitoring During Exercise With Smart Wristbands and a Heart Rhythm Patch: Validation and Comparison Study

JMIR Form Res. 2023 Dec 14:7:e52519. doi: 10.2196/52519.

Authors

Tse-Lun Wang^#^{1

2}, Hao-Yi Wu^#³, Wei-Yun Wang⁴, Chao-Wen Chen^{1

5}, Wu-Chien Chien^{6

7

8

9

10}, Chi-Ming Chu^{7

8

9

10

11

12}, Yi-Syuan Wu¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Department of Surgery, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
³ Department of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁴ National Defense Medical Center and Department of Nursing, School of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Emergency Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Medical Research, Tri-Service General Hospital National Defense Medical Center, Taipei City, Taiwan.
⁷ School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁸ Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁹ Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
¹⁰ Big Data Research Center, College of Medicine, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
¹¹ Department of Public Health, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan.
¹² Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung City, Taiwan.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 38096010
PMCID: PMC10755651
DOI: 10.2196/52519

Abstract

Background: The integration of wearable devices into fitness routines, particularly in military settings, necessitates a rigorous assessment of their accuracy. This study evaluates the precision of heart rate measurements by locally manufactured wristbands, increasingly used in military academies, to inform future device selection for military training activities.

Objective: This research aims to assess the reliability of heart rate monitoring in chest straps versus wearable wristbands.

Methods: Data on heart rate and acceleration were collected using the Q-Band Q-69 smart wristband (Mobile Action Technology Inc) and compared against the Zephyr Bioharness standard measuring device. The Lin concordance correlation coefficient, Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, and intraclass correlation coefficient were used for reliability analysis.

Results: Participants from a Northern Taiwanese medical school were enrolled (January 1-June 31, 2021). The Q-Band Q-69 demonstrated that the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of women was observed to be 13.35 (SD 13.47). Comparatively, men exhibited a lower MAPE of 8.54 (SD 10.49). The walking state MAPE was 7.79 for women and 10.65 for men. The wristband's accuracy generally remained below 10% MAPE in other activities. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient analysis indicated gender-based performance differences, with overall coefficients of 0.625 for women and 0.808 for men, varying across walking, running, and cooldown phases.

Conclusions: This study highlights significant gender and activity-dependent variations in the accuracy of the MobileAction Q-Band Q-69 smart wristband. Reduced accuracy was notably observed during running. Occasional extreme errors point to the necessity of caution in relying on such devices for exercise monitoring. The findings emphasize the limitations and potential inaccuracies of wearable technology, especially in high-intensity physical activities.

Keywords: heart rhythm patch, smart wristband; photoplethysmography; running; wearable device.

©Tse-Lun Wang, Hao-Yi Wu, Wei-Yun Wang, Chao-Wen Chen, Wu-Chien Chien, Chi-Ming Chu, Yi-Syuan Wu. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 14.12.2023.