
Cardiogram: How could an app save your life? - endswapper
http://a16z.com/2016/10/20/cardiogram/
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brandonb
Thanks for posting endswapper!

I'm one of the co-founders of Cardiogram. If anybody has questions about
either Cardiogram Apple Watch app or the science behind it, happy to talk
here.

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endswapper
My pleasure, it's an interesting, practical application of multiple
disciplines.

I imagine new models will emerge as you accumulate data. Are there any current
applications or diagnoses that are revealed simply by wearing it long enough?
Or put another way are there any conditions that are knowable just based on
having enough data?

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brandonb
Good question. Atrial fibrillation is the first clinical application, and my
hope is that we'll have final publishable results in early 2017. Other studies
have shown is that, in a population at high risk of atrial fibrillation but
undiagnosed, it takes a median of about 80 days for the first episode to
appear. So there's an argument there for continuous monitoring, much longer
than the 24 hours typical of a Holter monitor or 2-4 weeks typical of ECG
chest patches.

For other conditions like diabetes or sleep apnea, we definitely see
correlations in our study between those conditions and heart rate variability
(and the medical literature confirms the same thing), although we don't yet
know how much time you need to build up an accurate risk score.

I think those other conditions are something we'd love to evaluate next!

