Diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias can be challenging due to their frequent transient nature. Smartphone-based ECG has previously been studied for atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosis. However, data is lacking regarding diagnostic accuracy of smartphone-based ECGs for other frequent arrhythmias.

To assess the accuracy of Alivecor smartphone-based ECG (AECG) device for the diagnosis of various bradyarrhythmias or tachyarrhythmias.

Hospitalized patients were eligible for inclusion if they had any of the following arrhythmias: AF, atrial tachycardia/flutter (AT), sinus rhythm with frequent atrial premature depolarizations (APD), sinus rhythm with frequent ventricular premature depolarizations (VPD), sinus tachycardia>120beats/min, sinus bradycardia<40beats/min, high-degree atrioventricular (AV) block, atrioventricular node reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and ventricular tachycardia (VT). Reference twelve-lead ECG were recorded, and the corresponding one-lead AECG was independently interpreted by four blinded electrophysiologists.

Seventy-three patients (57 men; aged 72±14 years) were included. For the diagnosis of bradyarrhythmias, AECG had a sensitivity and specificity of 75%–95% for sinus bradycardia, and 52%–98% for AV block. For atrial tachyarrhythmias, sensitivites and specificites were good for APD (83%–97%), AF (82%–87%), and sinus tachycardia (86%–98%), whereas sensitivity was poor for AT (49%–93%) and AVNRT (10%–99%), with very frequent confusion between them. For ventricular tachyarrhythmias, sensitivities and specificities were 70%–95% for VPD, and 89%–100% for VT (Table 1, Figure 1).

AECG is accurate for the diagnosis of sinus bradycardia, sinus tachycardia, APD, VPD, AF and VT. However, AV block, AT and AVNRT were poorly diagnosed by AECG, with a low sensitivity and very frequent confusion between AT and AVRNT.