Validation of an equine fitness tracker: ECG quality and arrhythmia detection.
Authors: Ter Woort Fe, Dubois Guillaume, Tansley Grace, Didier Marie, Verdegaal Lidwien, Franklin Samantha, Van Erck-Westergren Emmanuelle
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Editorial Summary: Validation of an equine fitness tracker Understanding cardiac arrhythmias in exercising horses remains clinically important given their potential links to poor performance and sudden cardiac death, yet large-scale research has been hampered by the lack of practical, portable ECG systems capable of capturing high-quality recordings during work. Ter Woort and colleagues conducted a prospective blinded validation study comparing the EquimetreTM wearable device—a single-lead ECG recorder—against the reference TelevetTM system in 49 healthy horses exercising at various intensities, ranging from show-jumping to high-speed racetrack work (>40km/h). The Equimetre demonstrated superior signal quality, generating significantly less artefact during exercise (0.25% versus 5% for Televet; p<0.001) and achieving excellent agreement on arrhythmia detection (Cohen's Kappa = 0.97) and classification (K = 0.93) across 38 paired recordings. These findings suggest the Equimetre is sufficiently reliable for clinical use and could finally enable the large-scale prospective studies needed to establish which exercising arrhythmias are physiologically benign variations versus genuine markers of cardiac pathology or performance compromise. Farriers, veterinarians and coaches should note this represents a meaningful step towards building the evidence base around exercise-induced arrhythmias, though the single-lead format does impose some classification limitations in complex cases.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Equimetre is a validated, portable alternative to reference ECG systems for detecting arrhythmias in exercising horses, making it practical for field-based studies and clinical use
- •The device's superior artifact reduction during exercise means you can obtain higher quality ECG recordings in working conditions without requiring stationary equipment
- •Consider using Equimetre for screening arrhythmias in performance horses, particularly racehorses, as it reliably detects and classifies arrhythmias that may impact performance or indicate cardiac risk
Key Findings
- •Equimetre device produced significantly less ECG artifact during exercise compared to Televet system (0.25% vs 5%, p<0.001)
- •Excellent agreement between Equimetre and Televet for arrhythmia detection (Kappa=0.97) and arrhythmia classification (Kappa=0.93)
- •12 of 49 horses (24%) had ECGs excluded due to >10% artifact; 9 Televet and 3 Equimetre recordings failed this threshold
- •Arrhythmias were detected in 21 of 38 horses (55%) with analyzable paired ECG recordings