Atrial Fibrillation: Your Smartwatch ECGs and Heart Records as Research Data

Every figure in this guide comes from a published source, linked where it appears and kept in CureCircle's evidence base with the source's own words. It is not medical advice. Read on 7 November 2026.

Atrial fibrillation comes and goes for many people, which is exactly why it is hard to catch in a clinic. A smartwatch alert, a heart monitor worn for a day, an ECG in an emergency department: the record of atrial fibrillation is a series of snapshots of an irregular rhythm, joined by the person's own memory of the palpitations, the breathlessness and the worry. Research on when to treat, which blood thinner, and whether rhythm control works learns from exactly those series.

How many people live with it

A Global Burden of Disease analysis counted 52.55 million people with atrial fibrillation or flutter worldwide in 2021, with 4.48 million new cases that year.

The records worth keeping

NICE's 2021 guideline on atrial fibrillation describes the tests and reviews that leave records:

• A 12-lead ECG to make a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation if an irregular pulse is detected.
• A heart monitor worn at home: NICE suggests a 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitor when episodes come and go. Its report shows how much of the day your heart was out of rhythm.
• An echocardiogram for people for whom a baseline echocardiogram is important for long-term management, or before rhythm control.
• A yearly anticoagulation review: for people on a blood thinner, NICE asks to review the need for anticoagulation and the quality of anticoagulation at least annually.

If your watch can record a single-lead ECG, those recordings, exported as PDFs with their dates ( how to download your device reports), show your rhythm between appointments. Heart rate data from a wearable adds the day-to-day picture. If you do not have your ECG or monitor reports, ask your practice or hospital for a copy.

What sharing it is worth

CureCircle values every contribution with a public benchmark built from what health data has sold for. A complete atrial fibrillation story with a year of the records the guideline lists comes to about $95 per licence on the benchmark today. With 90 days of heart rate data from a wearable added, it comes to about $205 per licence. Every line and its source is on the atrial fibrillation page.

A licence is not a one-off sale: the same de-identified story can be licensed to several research teams, and you earn a share each time.

How to share it

You start by writing what you live with in your own words; a few quick questions follow, then an AI interviewer asks about the details only you know, such as how episodes start and what you feel, and you rate every treatment you tried, from blood thinners and rate control to cardioversion and ablation. You can add ECG and monitor reports, clinic letters and exported watch recordings as PDFs or photos, and the AI reads them into your own medical file. Before anything is shared, you read the de-identified summary and decide.

Start your story, or read what your health data is worth first.