iPod Study Links Usage to Failing Pacemakers

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

22 May 2007 04:43 AM

In a study conducted by a medical doctor, a electrophysiologist and a 17-year-old high school student, results revealed that the iPod poses a threat to the functionality of human pacemakers.

During the study, 100 patients with implanted pacemakers were placed on heart monitors. iPods were then activated and placed a couple of inches in front of their chests for five to ten seconds. The results of the study are very interesting.

In some cases, the iPod caused the pacemaker to think that there were vents in the heart that weren't actually there. In other cases, the iPod started causing the heart monitoring equipment to malfunction. Lastly, in one patient, the iPod seemingly caused the pacemaker to completely fail, to stop working for a short time.

In 35 percent of all of the patients with pacemakers that were studied, there was some type of functional interruption of the pacemaker by the iPod. Further studies will need to be conducted to help determine exactly what is happening to the pacemakers and why.

Jay Thaker, the high school student who headed up the research recommends that for now, people with pacemakers keep their iPods at least six inches away from their chests.

Meanwhile, a whole host of comedy has sprung up around the recent announcement of the iPod study's results. A common theme, for example, is that Apple is now in the business of a combination iPod/pacemaker or iPod/biological weapon. Another theme is that Apple planned the whole thing to get rid of its competition in Microsoft, implying that top executives of Microsoft are full of pacemakers, and the iPod is serving as a Trojan horse.

Personally, I think it is too early to tell if the iPod poses a threat to patients with pacemakers, but it is definitely an interesting study, one that begs the question, why hadn't such a study been done before. And do other mp3 players pose a possible threat as well?

What do you think about this study?

Mary Ann Romans writes about her family's money saving secrets in the Frugal Living Blog here at Families.com

Read more about the study in the health blog!

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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