Can we use an OpenBCI 3 channel ECG device in place of a research or medical grade ECG device?

Last Updated on December 13, 2023 by pg@petergamma.org

In the conclusion of the following paper about the Polar OH1 it says:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0217288

«The findings of the study shows that the Polar OH1 HR is in high agreement to the criterion measure ECG HR under moderate to high intensity physical activities. Therefore, when accurate HR measurements are required, Polar OH1 can be used in place of ECG or chest strap HR monitors during moderate to high intensity physical activities».

But the Polar OH1 did not reach the same accuracy as the g.tec medical reference device and therefore cannot replace it.

In the following paper of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio a Polar H7 and an Apple watch 3 was compared to a Quinton 3 channel ECG device:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6732081/

If the protocol of the Cleveland Clinic paper would be repeated and an OpenBCI Cyton 3 channel ECG device would be compared on a treadmill up to about 15 km/h to a research or medical grade ECG device, and we could show, what we expect, that OpenBCI Cyton 3 channel is as accurate as the reference device we had a validation paper which would allow us to replace the expensive reserach grade device by an OpenBCI Cyton.

The Apple watch 3 and the Polar H7 chest strap did not reach the accuracy of the reference device.

But we expect that OpenBCI Cyton can reach the same accuracy as the reference device and should therefore be more suitable for medical doctors and physiologists than the Apple watch 3 and the Polar H7.