Google announced in early April that its Fitbit line of smartwatches had received FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) clearance to use a new algorithm in its products in order to help detect irregular heart rhythm conditions such as Atrial Fibrillation (AFib). By the end of April, this new feature had started to roll out to existing Fitbit devices and even included older models such as the Versa 2, Charge 3, etc. However, the new “Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification” feature was limited to working only in the United States.
According to a report by 9to5Google, this limitation will no longer be an issue for those located in Europe, the U.K., and other select countries. This comes following the company gaining the CE mark for Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications, which allows the use of the feature in the European Union and some other international regions. As of now, below is the list of countries where this is available:
• American Samoa
• Austria
• Belgium
• Canada
• Chile
• France
• Germany
• Guam
• Hong Kong
• Ireland
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Puerto Rico
• Romania
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom
• United States
• U.S. Virgin Islands
Fitbit’s AFib detecting algorithm is based on PPG (photoplethysmography). It is different from what has been used before by its ECG app in that instead of doing spot checks throughout the day, it allows for long-term heart rhythm assessment. Although not meant to replace medical advice, having an alert like this can be life-saving. Considering AFib affects as many as 33.5 million people globally and can be difficult to detect, I’m very thankful that this is included in old Fitbit devices and working out of the box on the newer Fitbit Versa 4, Fitbit Sense 2, and Fitbit Inspire 3.
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