iPod Affecting Pacemakers According to Study |
According to a recent study, iPod music players can cause implanted cardiac pacemakers to malfunction and produce false reading while monitoring heart rhythms. The study was done by a 17-year-old Michigan high school student in conjunction with a team from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, and presented to the Hearth Rhythm Society’s annual session in Denver.
In the study no other portable music players were used, only iPods. After testing 83 individuals with pacemakers by holding the iPod device 2 inches in front of the subjects chest for 5 to 10 seconds, almost half of the pacemakers produced electrical interference causing the device to either misread the heart’s function or to not read any heart function at all. In one instance the pacemaker stopped functioning completely. We have to wonder if the same results would be encountered if Apple started making the iPod’s with Flash memory instead?
Jay Thayker, high school student from Okemos, Michigan, was the lead author in the study and gained interest in the subject after reading about the studies with cell phones and pacemakers. Thaker worked with Krit Jongnarangsin at the UMHS Cardiovascular Center to complete the study.
Thaker, whose parents are both physicians, is considering attending college next year at Michigan State and has plans to go on to medical school.
Source: Reuters
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Its probably the result of the rare earth magnets hard drives use.
You know this is stupid. How many people keep an ipod within 2 inches of their chest? Yea if you have it in your shirt pocket but thats a stupid idea cause as soon as you bend over out it goes. Any normal person would have it in their pocket or in an arm band. So this is something that is retarded. Not to mention that maybe 2% of people that have a pacemaker have an mp3 player and of those probably a total of 1.8% have an Ipod. So this applys to what 100 people? Can we please do something that is not a waste of time?
Brent: If it wasn’t a waste of your time, your wasting your time writing on here. This was a 17 year old kid who probably had some spare time and found it interesting. It does not matter how many pace makers it affects, as long it is known it may help one person. The research didn’t cost a tax payer a cent because somebody did it on their own time. Perhaps you should consider doing something more productive instead of telling other people how unproductive they are.
You are all terribly unimformed about pacemakers — pacemakers are not just for the elderly — I received my at the age of 47 and there are many many pacemaker patient younger than I. Even babies receive pacemakers.
I do have an iPOD (even at my age - 57). If there is any truth we have a right to know.
I received a pacemaker at age 10 and a defibrillator at age 11. I am now 29 and have had an ipod for about a year and a cell phone for about 8 years. I have not had any problems. Just as in cell phone manuals, ipod manuals have a warning regarding electronic devices. Also, those with pacemakers/defibrillators should be informed enough to know not to hold cell phones, ipods, etc. close to their devices.