Last Updated on August 20, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org
Rob ter Horst uses a Polar H10 chest strap as a refernce device for his accuracy studies. Cardiologists from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio tested the accuracy of heart rate monitors:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6732081/
They compared the accuracy of the HRM they tested to a Quinton Q-tel RMS telemetry system:
In this paper it says:
«The Mason-Likar electrode placement was used and allowed for the assessment of modified leads I, II, and III. The ECG was monitored on a Quinton Q-tel RMS telemetry system and ECG-based HR was determined by visual assessment by trained research personnel. Using a 3 lead ECG in this fashion is considered the gold standard for HR measurement«
The authors cited the following paper which made them choose this setup:
Lin LI. A concordance correlation coefficient to evaluate reproducibility. Biometrics 1989;45:255-68. 10.2307/2532051
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2720055/
The requirements for a gold standard for HR measurement are:
- a 3 lead ECG device
- The Mason-Likar electrode placement
- A trained research assistant controls the ECG based heart rate measurement, for instance a cardiolologists stands next to the treadmill and controls every single ECG peak.
But the Polar H10 chest strap is not a 3 lead ECG device, but a single lead ECG device.
The following devices are 3 lead ECG devices: