Want Fast and Easy Heart Checkup? Download this App

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An iPhone app called Cardiio Rhythm can help fast and instant evaluation of heart performance exactly like ECG. The app works invasively and does not need any extra or prolonged effort.

The app is a creation of a team at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. This app can help people to check their heart performance at the slightest feeling of irregular heart rhythm.

Irregular heart rhythm is called atrial fibrillation and has the potential to cause heart stroke but is commonly left unchecked because many people take it lightly and ignore it.

The app utilizes the camera of the iPhone to evaluate the slight changes in the skin color of the patient's face. The skin color of the face indicates fluctuating heartbeat. BabyBeat system also works the same way when it monitors baby's skin tones for signs of initial Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Heart News shares that a patient can self-administer a stress walk test as effectively as it is done at a clinic. He just needs to walk for six minutes and check his face skin tone with the help of his iPhone camera. The results show on the screen instantly.

This app can be a very useful resource for people living in far flung areas with no easy access to an ECG at a clinic.

Jeffrey Olgin, M.D, who is an investigator at the University at California at San Francisco, led researchers. He used data from the Health eHeart Study and measured the efficacy of the app.

"This study is a good example of how Health eHeart data can be leveraged," said Dr. Olgin. "It shows that we now have a tool that accurately measures a heart failure patient's progress and we can get real-time information while the patient is at home. The Health eHeart Study is truly a resource that can expedite discovery."

New Atlas reports that the app is tested on 85 patients. 25 of those were already undergone an ECG and had an atrial fibrillation and the app detected the problem with a 92% accuracy. The scientists say that this is not perfect.

The app can become handy for large-scale community atrial fibrillation screenings. Moreover, work is on for making it more perfect.