Health Highlights: May 24, 2016NFL Tried to Influence Government Study on Concussions: Report
Fitbit Heart Monitors ‘Highly Inaccurate,’ Study Says
Five Cases of Zika-Linked Microcephaly in Colombia Since Start of Year
” /> NFL Tried to Influence Government Study on Concussions: Report
Fitbit Heart Monitors ‘Highly Inaccurate,’ Study Says
Five Cases of Zika-Linked Microcephaly in Colombia Since Start of Year
“>

A new Congressional report claims that National Football League officials tried to influence the outcome of a government study that examined the link between concussions and brain disease.

The NFL backed out of a $30 million donation for brain research after the NIH went ahead and awarded a $16 million grant for the study to that researcher, Robert Stern, the wire service reported.

The heart rates of 43 healthy adults were checked during rest and exercise using Fitbit’s PurePulse heart rate monitors. Their heart rates were then checked with a BioHarness device that produced an electrocardiogram (ECG), CNBC reported.

The results showed that the Fitbit monitors miscalculated heart rates by up to 20 beats a minutes during more intensive exercise, the researchers at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona found.

The study was commissioned by the law firm Lieff Cabraser, which is handling a class action suit targeting three Fitbit models that use the PurePulse heart monitor: Fitbit Blaze, Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge, CNBC reported.

Earlier this year, a separate study by Ball State University in Indiana and NBC-affiliated TV station WTHR found that the Fitbit Charge HR had an average heart rate error rate of 14 percent, CNBC reported.

“Calculating a heart rate that’s off by 20 or 30 beats per minute can be dangerous — especially for people at high risk of heart disease,” that study warned.