Accuracy and Validity of Commercial Smart Bands for Heart Rate Measurements During Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test

OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracies and validities of popular smart bands for heart rate (HR) measurement in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients during a graded exercise test (GXT). METHODS: Seventy-eight patients were randomly assigned to wear two different smart bands out of three possible choices: Samsung Galaxy Fit 2, Xiaomi Mi Band 5, or Partron PWB-250 on each wrist. A 12-lead exercise electrocardiogram (ECG) and patch-type single-lead ECG were used to assess the comparative HR accuracy of the smart bands. The HR was recorded during the GXT using the modified Bruce protocol. RESULTS: The concordance correlation coefficients (r(c)) were calculated to provide a measure of agreement between each device and the ECG. In all conditions, the Mi Band 5 and Galaxy Fit 2’ correlations were r(c)>0.90, while the PWB-250 correlation was r(c)=0.58 at rest. When evaluating the accuracy according to the magnitude of HR, all smart bands performed well (r(c)>0.90) when the HR was below 100 but accuracy tended to decrease with higher HR values. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the three smart bands had a high level of accuracy for HR measurements during low-intensity exercise. However, during moderate-intensity and high-intensity exercise, all the three smart bands performed less accurately. Further studies are needed to find a more optimal smart band for HR measurement that can be used for precise HR monitoring during formal cardiac rehabilitation exercise training, including at high and maximal intensity (Clinical Trial Registration No. cris.nih.go.kr/KCT0007036).