“iPad 2s use magnets to help secure the cover to the tablet. Since people hold tablets so close to their chest, I wanted to see if these magnets could affect cardiac device performance,” said Gianna Chien, a freshman at Lincoln High School in Stockton, Calif., who conducted the study for her science fair project.
“Since tablets are becoming more common, I hope these findings will encourage patients who have or may be a candidate for implantable defibrillators to talk to their doctor about precautions if they use a tablet like the iPad 2.”
Testing her hypothesis on 26 participants she found that 30% of the time the magnets caused the devices to stop working.
Since, she's started getting attention from medics—and soon she'll be reporting her findings to 8,000 doctors at a Heart Rhythm Society meeting in Denver.
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