Many don't share heart data from smartwatches 

[Audio: Sound of a paintbrush scratching against the canvas]

Barb Consiglio: Sue VanWassenhove's head was in the clouds when it came to her health, until her children gave her a gift that had her drinking more water and staying active.

[Text on screen: Sue VanWassenhove
Monitors heart health with smartwatch]

Sue VanWassenhove: Just to foster positive health, in terms of tracking how often I was moving, and how many steps, and all of those things.

Barb Consiglio: After being diagnosed with an arrhythmia, Sue began tracking her heart rate.

Sue VanWassenhove: And there was a pattern that was starting to develop, and so that's when I followed up with Dr. Mehta.

Barb Consiglio: Dr. Laxmi Mehta, Sue's cardiologist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center encourages patients to share information from their portable devices.

[Text on screen:
Laxmi Mehta, MD
The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center]

Laxmi Mehta, MD: Just having it on a device or onto your phone doesn't make a difference unless you are proactive in doing something about it.

[Video shows a smartwatch screen as it updates.
Text on screen: Current 55 BPM 
53 BPM, 1m ago]

[Text on screen: Heart Rate Range 48-91 BPM Today]

[Text on screen: 65% use a device to monitor heart health 
27% reference data from wearable device when talking to their doctor]

Barb Consiglio: A national survey by The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center found that nearly two-thirds of Americans use a device to monitor their heart health, but just one in four use that data to prompt a conversation with their doctor.

Dr. Mehta: It's very important for patients to self-reflect, and then anything that seems out of the ordinary, send it to us. If they don't have an explanation, send it to us and ask us.

Barb Consiglio: Sue now sends EKGs directly to Dr. Mehta through electronic medical records.

Sue VanWassenhove: Who knows how to read an EKG? I don't. Most people don't. But sending it to her office immediately, lets them look and see, like, "Yeah, you need to be checked out, Sue." And that's invaluable.

Barb Consiglio: At The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, I'm Barb Consiglio.