Unlocking the Power of Smartwatches in Cardiovascular Health: How Data Saved Nicola Monk’s Life and Inspired Scientists to Make Health Monitoring More Accessible

Nicola Monk, from Berkshire, had a routine 10k run in 2019 when her husband Chris’s sports watch alerted her to an issue with his heart rate. She was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. This experience inspired her to join a group of people to help scientists understand how data from smartphones and sports watches can improve people’s health.

Chris Monk feels fortunate to have had his heart rate monitor on during his episode of atrial fibrillation as it allowed him to show the cardiologist exactly when it started and what he was doing at the time. This experience has inspired him to work towards making this type of monitoring more accessible to others in the future.

The British Heart Foundation’s Data Science Centre is conducting research on how sports watches and smartphones can be used to monitor health. Nicola Monk, along with seven other members of the public, helped create a study to explore ways in which data can support cardiovascular research. Dr. Jackie MacArthur, a senior scientific programme manager at the BHF’s Data Science Centre, believes that securely linking this data with a person’s NHS data could lead to new insights in cardiovascular diseases.

Nicola emphasizes the importance of having access to the data provided by her husband’s smartwatch, as without it, his diagnosis may have been missed. By using this data to improve disease prediction, diagnosis, and treatment, researchers hope to make a significant impact on public health.