OLATHE, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today announced a collaboration with the University of Kansas Medical Center to foster innovation and better understand how wearables can assist in the detection and management of significant medical conditions. Their initial research will focus on sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation.
Garmin, a global leader in wearable technology for over a decade, and KU Medical Center, a world-class academic medical research facility, have begun work on multiple research projects combining the high-quality sensor data from Garmin devices and the health care expertise of KU Medical Center researchers.
“Garmin Health is excited to work with a nationally-recognized institution like KU Medical Center that is on the forefront of digital health research,” said Scott Burgett, Director of Garmin Health Engineering. “As patients assume increased responsibility for their own health care, Garmin is committed to the development of wearables that can lead to the prevention or detection of serious health conditions. With long battery life, high water rating, and high-quality sensor data, we can provide meaningful features that will help reduce health care costs and provide useful functionality for everyday life.”
For patients with known conditions, continual monitoring can offer health care professionals valuable insight and assist in a well-informed course of treatment. KU Medical Center research provides clinically based data that can aid in the development of algorithms capable of identifying conditions like sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation.
Sleep apnea, a clinically under-detected and costly disorder to study, may affect over 18 million Americans. Garmin Health has worked with Suzanne Stevens, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology, and Catherine Siengsukon, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, at KU Medical Center to study how a wearable equipped with optical sensors could be used to detect sleep apnea and provide a lower cost alternative to an overnight sleep center evaluation.
“Wearables have already increased the public’s awareness of activity levels while awake,” said Dr. Stevens. “This research helps us better understand how wearables can do the same while asleep, helping to detect sleep apnea, which left untreated can affect mood, memory, trigger heart arrhythmias, heart attacks, and even strokes.”
Atrial fibrillation is an irregular and often rapid heart rhythm that can increase the risk of stroke by 500% and can cause heart failure. It is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, affecting millions of people in the United States alone with rates expected to continually increase. Like sleep apnea, atrial fibrillation has been cumbersome and costly to detect. Unfortunately, in 20% of patients, atrial fibrillation is not identified until they have a stroke.
Garmin Health is working with Madhu Reddy, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at KU Medical Center and Division Director, Heart Rhythm Services in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The University of Kansas Health System, to study how Garmin wearables could detect atrial fibrillation. “Wearable technology capable of early detection and monitoring of heart rhythm disorders will be a revolutionary boon to cardiac care,” said Dr. Reddy.
The ever-expanding Garmin fitness segment develops technologies to enhance and promote healthy and active lifestyles. Garmin Health provides enterprise solutions that leverage Garmin wearables and the high-quality sensor data they produce for use in the corporate wellness, population health, and patient monitoring markets.
Garmin serves five primary business units, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin's virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom, contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garmin, or youtube.com/garmin.
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This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Garmin Ltd. and its business. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and actual results could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Garmin, including, but not limited to, the risk factors listed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 30, 2017, filed by Garmin with the Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission file number 0-31983). A copy of such Form 10-K is available at http://www.garmin.com/aboutGarmin/invRelations/finReports.html. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Garmin undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
