Results of the much-anticipated 2016 Scripps Translational Science Institute's (STSI) mSToPS study on 5000 individuals revealed that an mHealth wearable is three times more efficient in diagnosing atrial fibrillation than the traditional screening tests advised by a doctor.

Results of this pioneering study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), validate the efficacy of home-based digital health tools in detecting arterial fibrillation.

In a press release Steven Steinhubl, MD, STSI’s director of digital medicine and an associate professor at The Scripps Research Institute said “Our study shows an almost threefold improvement in the rate of diagnosis of AFib in those actively monitored compared to usual care.

The mSToPS study was launched by STSI in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals to compare conventional cardiac monitoring with remote monitoring by iRhythm’s Zio patch for ECH screening.

The 5,214 individuals recruited through Aetna’s fully insured commercial and Medicare health plans for this year-long study, witnessed new cases of AF in 6.3 percent of those using the mHealth patch, in contrast to 2.4 percent of the controlled population.

 “This study demonstrates the utility of a digital approach not only to diagnosing asymptomatic AFib but to the clinical research field as a whole,” Steinhubl said in the press release. “We hope that it will set a precedent for future real-world, participant-centric clinical trials that leverage the power of digital medicine technologies.”