Pacemakers & Cellphones: Keep Your Distance

It seems like everyone and their brother has a smart phone of some sort these days or at least is exposed to someone who has one. And for patients with pacemakers, this could be a dangerous combination. I look at the medical news on my favorite science-oriented website regularly and a new study from the European Society of Cardiology found that those who have pacemakers should keep their distance from cell phones to avoid unwanted painful shocks or frightening pauses in the function of their device. The study was presented in June to the joint meeting of the European Heart Rhythm Association and the European Society of Cardiology by one of the main authors, Dr. Carsten Lennerz, a cardiology resident in Germany.

Although it does not happen all the time, pacemakers can sometimes mistakenly pick up electromagnetic interference from smartphones and treat them like a cardiac signal, which can cause them to stop working for a brief period of time, according to Lennerz. He recommends that patients should hold their phone on the ear opposite to their pacemaker when talking and not place the phone in a pocket directly above the pacemaker just to be safe.

The authors added that another area of concern for patients with pacemakers is when they are under high voltage power lines. Although is ok for them to walk under power lines, the authors recommend that they do not spend extra time under the power lines, as high electric fields can also tamper with the pacemaker’s normal functioning.

I found it interesting and worrisome that the authors noted that pacemakers themselves do not come with any warnings about these possible problems. My uncle has a pacemaker that has saved his life and next time I see him walking around with his cell phone in his pocket as he often does, I will be sure to warn him about the possible dangers of doing so. In this smartphone inundated world, I wonder how many people with pacemakers have been affected by this problem. This would be an interesting and timely topic to pursue in further research studies.

I would also like to know how long medical experts have known about the interference cell phones and power lines play in the role of the pacemaker. It seems like something that every patient should be warned about but this is the first I have ever heard of the topic. I plan to do more research on this issue since I have a vested interest in it with my uncle’s health at stake.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150622071207.htm