iPods Won't Make You Miss a Beat
Study refutes idea that music devices interfere with pacemakers

(HealthDay News) -- The hearts of music lovers everywhere can rest a little easier: New research refutes an older study that suggested that iPods -- and similar digital music players -- could cause pacemakers to malfunction.

The initial study suggested that errant electronic noise could cause malfunctions either in the pacemaker or in the part of the pacemaker that records the heart rhythm history, which could lead to unnecessary treatment changes.

"People commonly strap their iPod to the arm right next to their pacemaker or put it in a shirt pocket," Jay Thaker, author of the first study, told HealthDay . "There are quite a few situations where they come in proximity to the pacemaker -- closer than we would like them to."

Thaker presented his findings at a meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Denver . He was a Michigan high school senior at the time; his father is an electrophysiologist and his mother is a doctor.

At the time of Thaker's study, Dr. Edwin Kevin Heist, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital , said he advised patients with pacemakers to not put iPods directly over their pacemakers.

He added that he would be more concerned about people with implanted pacemaker defibrillators. "The possibility would be there for inappropriate shock," Heist said. "The shocks are quite painful and traumatic for patients."

About eight months after the first study, an analysis in BioMedical Engineering OnLine measured the magnetic fields generated by different iPods and tested the voltages on pacemakers, finding that iPods had no effect on these devices.

"Based on the observations of our in-vitro study, we conclude that no interference can occur in pacemakers exposed to the iPods we tested," wrote Howard Bassen, a study co-author and a researcher with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The following month, researchers from Children's Hospital Boston ran their own tests on 51 young people with pacemakers. Their average age was 22.

In 255 separate tests, the researchers found that iPods didn't change a person's electrocardiogram (EKG) reading.

"This provides reassuring evidence that should allay the fears of people using iPods and other digital music players," Dr. Charles Bruel, a study author and director of the pacemaker service at the hospital, said in a prepared statement.

But Thaker's findings weren't completely debunked. About 41 percent of the participants did have problems with their iPod interfering with communication between their pacemaker and the device that programs it. The researchers said these findings mean that people shouldn't wear iPods when their pacemakers are being reprogrammed.

Other researchers have found that there's definitely a time when people shouldn't use an iPod -- whether they do or don't have a pacemaker -- and that's if thunderstorms are in the area. A Canadian runner was hit by lighting while wearing an iPod, and doctors said his injuries probably were more severe because of the device, according to a report in the New England Journal of Medicine .

On the Web

Learn more about pacemakers from the American Heart Association.

SOURCES: HealthDay News ; Jay Thaker, former Okemos High School student, Okemos, Mich.; Edwin Kevin Heist, M.D., Ph.D., cardiac electrophysiologist, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; May 10, 2007, presentation, Heart Rhythm Society annual meeting, Denver; BioMed Central, news release, Jan. 31, 2008; Children's Hospital Boston, news release, March 26, 2008; July 12, 2007, New England Journal of Medicine
Author: Serena Gordon
Publication Date: May 31, 2008
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