Summary
Background. Heart rate (HR) monitoring during exercise allows to maintain optimal workout intensity and achieve maximum physical activity benefit for one’s health. Exceeding individually recommended exercise intensity can have both short and long-term negative impact on health, which is why real-time HR monitoring is exceptionally important. For this purpose wearable HR monitors can come in handy.
Objective. The objective of this article is to review the newest scientific researches, which evaluate accuracy and reliability of different wearable HR monitors, their usability during different types of physical activity, and user related aspects.
Material and methods. We re viewed 29 sci en tific pub li ca tions. Articles were selected from PubMed and Cochrane Library databases. In this review we used articles written in English and published in the last 5 years.
Results. Results of reviewed scientific publications showed that accuracy of various wearable HR monitors differs and depends on a range of factors. Electrode based HR monitors are the most accurate and their accuracy mostly depends on the intensity of the physical activity. Whereas accuracy of optical HR monitors is influenced by more various factors – type and intensity of the exercise, body part on which the device is placed and individual features of the user, such as body skin color or body mass index.
Conclusions. The most accurate wearable devices that are presented in the market to this day are electrode based chest strap monitors. Whereas accuracy of optical HR monitors mostly depends on the type and intensity of the physical activity. User related characteristics can also have different effects on the accuracy of various wearable HR monitors.
