Handheld one-lead ECG may detect AF in outpatient setting, with high sensitivity and specificity: Study

For this purpose, the researchers examined patients attending outpatient clinics at Danderyd Hospital (n = 220) with one lead handheld ECG immediately after standard care 12‑lead ECG recording. Twelve recordings were excluded (atrial flutter or pacing) or missing.

Two senior cardiologists dichotomously categorized the recordings as “atrial fibrillation” or “not atrial fibrillation”. In cases of diverging interpretations, a third senior cardiologist had the deciding vote. Specificity and sensitivity in diagnosing atrial fibrillation were calculated with 12‑lead ECG as the gold standard.

The researchers found that specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation with one-lead handheld ECG and 12‑lead ECG as the gold standard were 99% and 98%, respectively.

The study showed high sensitivity and specificity of Zenicor One handheld ECG in a health-care outpatient setting for detection of atrial fibrillation when compared with 12‑lead ECG.

"We report high diagnostic performance of the Zenicor One handheld one‑lead ECG device compared to 12‑lead ECG in an outpatient setting. The arrhythmia analysed against sinus rhythm was atrial fibrillation, the arrhythmia most relevant for large-scale arrhythmia screening," the researchers wrote.

Reference:

Malmqvist, J., Engdahl, J., Sjölund, G., & Doliwa, P. (2024). Sensitivity and specificity of handheld one lead ECG detecting atrial fibrillation in an outpatient clinic setting. Journal of Electrocardiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2024.02.001