Examining the Light Heart Mobile Device App for Assessing Human Pulse Interval and Heart Rate Variability: Validation...

Area of Science:

• Physiological monitoring
• Mobile health technology
• Biomarker assessment

Background:

• Pulse interval is a key biomarker for physiological and psychological health.
• Mobile apps offer novel, real-world methods for assessing pulse interval.
• Validation of mobile app accuracy is crucial before widespread research implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the validity of the Light Heart mobile app for measuring pulse interval.
• To assess the app's accuracy in measuring pulse rate variability.
• To compare mobile app measurements against a gold standard in healthy young adults.

Main Methods:

• Compared Light Heart app measurements to electrocardiogram (ECG) in 14 healthy young adults.
• Assessed pulse interval and standard deviation of normal pulse intervals.
• Utilized Bland-Altman analysis to evaluate agreement and bias.

Main Results:

• Strong positive linear correlation (r=0.99) and agreement (ICC=1.00) for mean pulse interval.
• Light Heart showed a small overestimation of pulse interval (fixed bias -1.56 ms).
• Excellent agreement for heart rate variability (SD of normal pulse intervals) between Light Heart and ECG (ICC=0.99).

Conclusions:

• The Light Heart mobile app demonstrates valid measurement capabilities for pulse interval.
• The app also provides valid measures of heart rate variability.
• Findings support the use of Light Heart for assessing these biomarkers in healthy young adults.