Study Shows AI Can Spot Ventricular Condition From Apple Watch Data

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Study: AI Can Detect Heart Condition From Apple Watch ECGs
An artificial-intelligence algorithm developed at Mayo Clinic could identify left ventricular dysfunction—or a weak heart pump—in most patients based on Apple Watch data, researchers shared at a conference Sunday. The proof-of-concept study was funded by Rochester, Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic without technical or financial support from Apple. Left ventricular dysfunction, which affects 2-3% of people globally, might be accompanied by symptoms like shortness of breath, legs swelling or an irregular heartbeat, but it sometimes has no symptoms at all, said Dr. Paul Friedman, chair of Mayo Clinic's cardiovascular medicine department in Rochester and a researcher on the study. (Kim Cohen, 5/1)

Stat: Pulling From Apple Watch Data, Cardiac Algorithm Shows Early Promise
Mayo Clinic is developing an algorithm capable of detecting a weak heart pump from electrocardiograms recorded on wearable devices like Apple Watches, potentially enabling early detection of the life-threatening condition outside medical settings. The algorithm accurately flagged a small number of patients with a weak heart pump in a study presented Sunday at the annual Heart Rhythm Society conference in San Francisco. It was tested in a decentralized study that collected more than 125,000 Apple Watch EKGs from participants in 46 states and 11 countries. (Ross, 5/1)

In other developments —

CIDRAP: Clinical Trial Will Examine Antibiotic Use In Treatment Of Gum Disease
The National Institutes of Health this week announced a $2.4 million grant for a clinical trial to study responsible use of antibiotics in the treatment of severe gum disease. The trial, which will be run by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in collaboration with American Dental Association Science & Research Institute, will enroll 1,050 periodontal patients. Clinicians will share clinical and patient-experience data about the efficacy of adjunctive antibiotics, which are commonly used for treatment of periodontitis in conjunction with deep cleaning. To date, data on the benefit of adjunctive antibiotics for periodontitis has been unclear. (4/29)

Stat: This Kidney Researcher Hopes To Break A Lethal Chain Of Inheritance 
Autumn Steen roiled in the pew of the chapel, Bowditch Union Free Will Baptist Church — the one she could see from home, the house of God she knew so well she could get in with a spare key. If I just pray hard enough, none of this will happen, she thought. At just 17, she was unable to grasp that this had already happened. Her dad, Tommy Bruce Carroll, was dead. Minutes earlier, she had arrived home from summer Bible school to find an ambulance in the gravel driveway, her mother sobbing uncontrollably on the back porch. Steen had known her father was sick with the same kidney disease he shared with more than half of his 13 siblings, and he’d slowed down a bit since starting dialysis. But he had been OK when they spoke that morning. He was only 50 years old. How could his heart just stop? (Cueto, 5/2)

On covid developments —

CIDRAP: Study: SARS-CoV-2 Virus Shedding Varied Widely In The Mildly Ill
Daily infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus shedding varied substantially among 60 newly diagnosed asymptomatic or mildly ill COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic, suggesting that individual differences in viral dynamics may account for "superspreading," according to a first-of-its-kind modeling study published yesterday in Nature Microbiology. A superspreader transmits the virus to an exceptionally large number of other people. "Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 by both presymptomatic and asymptomatic individuals has been a major contributor to the explosive spread of this virus," the researchers wrote. (Van Beusekom, 4/29)

CIDRAP: Sensitivity Of Home COVID Rapid Antigen Tests Peaks 4 Days After Illness Onset
The sensitivity of home rapid antigen COVID-19 tests peaks 4 days after symptom onset, suggesting that a negative antigen test should be followed by a second test in 1 or 2 days, according to a prospective study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. The study, led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Response Team, studied test sensitivity in 225 adults and children from 107 households who tested positive for COVID-19 in San Diego County, California, and metropolitan Denver from January to May 2021. (4/29)