An inexpensive device for monitoring patients' weights via automated hovering.

Daily weight monitoring is integral to the management of heart failure (HF) [1]. Indeed, weight gain is a marker of HF decompensation, and daily weight monitoring has been associated with favorable prognosis [2]. Until now, assessment of weight has required patients to attend an in-person visit, which provides only an infrequent snapshot of their weight. Remote hovering practices have gained considerable traction during the past several years [3–7], but their use outside of research settings has been limited. We tested the accuracy of remote weight monitoring using the Fitbit® AriaTM weight scale, a commercially available, inexpensive device that communicates data wirelessly, can transmit data remotely to healthcare providers, and yields data that can be banked into medical data repositories.