New AI-powered algorithm could better assess people's risk of common heart condition Early detection of atrial fibrillation can reduce the risk of stroke and heart failure, but screening people for the condition has been historically challenging.
December 12, 2023
LA JOLLA, CA A new artificial intelligence (AI) model designed by Scripps Research scientists could help clinicians better screen patients for atrial fibrillation (or AFib) an irregular, fast heartbeat that is associated with stroke and heart failure. The model picks up on tiny variations in a person's normal heartbeat that signify AFib risk, which standard screening tests cannot detect.
The findings, described in the journal npj Digital Medicine on December 12, 2023, used data on nearly half a million people who had each worn an electrocardiogram (ECG) patch to record their heart rhythms for two weeks a routine screening test for AFib and other heart conditions. An AI model then analyzed this data to find patterns, other than AFib itself, that distinguished people with AFib from those without. This new model holds the potential to better detect those who are at risk for AFib and ultimately prevent this heart condition's severe side effects, including stroke and heart failure.
With this new tool, we can better identify patients at high risk of AFib for further tests and interventions, says senior author Giorgio Quer, PhD, director of artificial intelligence at Scripps Research Translational Institute and an assistant professor of digital medicine at Scripps Research. Long term, this can help drive the right resources to the right people and potentially reduce the incidence of stroke and heart failure.
The irregular heartbeat due to AFib can cause blood to pool in the heart and form blood clots, which can then contribute to strokes. AFib is also associated with an increased risk of heart failure or death. To prevent these complications in people with known AFib, clinicians often prescribe anticoagulants drugs that prevent blood clots as well as other lifestyle and medical therapies. However, diagnosing AFib can be tricky because many with the condition only have occasional bouts of the irregular heartbeat, or few symptoms.
In some people, AFib causes heart palpitations, lightheadedness, shortness of breath and chest pain. For patients who have these symptoms, cardiologists usually record the heart rhythms for about ten seconds in their office using a very detailed ECG that includes ten electrodes placed on the body. If nothing seems immediately amiss, they recommend continued, at-home monitoring for one or two weeks with a simpler, wearable ECG patch that has just a single electrode. But even over a two-week span, people with very occasional AFib may not have an episode picked up by this device.
That is why Quer, in collaboration with iRhythm Technologies (the maker of a wearable electrocardiogram patch called the Zio XT), set out to find other patterns in the ECG data of people with AFib.
We believe the electrical activity of the heart is slightly different for people who have AFib, but the differences are so subtle that cardiologists can't look at a printout of heart rhythms and identify these differences, says Quer.
The team developed a machine learning model to analyze data that iRhythm had collected on 459,889 people who wore the company's at-home ECG patch for two weeks. From each ECG, the model used one day of data which contained no AFib. However, it was able to distinguish people who had later AFib from those who didn't.
Even when the researchers integrated all known AFib risk factors into their own, manual models including demographic data and ECG measures such as the variability between different heart beats the machine learning model was more accurate at predicting AFib risk.
There was a gap between what we could achieve with any known ECG features and what the model could achieve, says Matteo Gadaleta, PhD, a professional scientific collaborator at the Translational Institute and first author of the paper. It was significantly better.
Importantly, the model remained accurate for both an older population, who are at higher risk of AFib, and people under the age of 55, who are at much lower risk and are usually excluded from general AFib screening.
While the model is not intended for the diagnosis of AFib, it is a first step towards the design of a screening test for people who are at increased risk of AFib or those showing symptoms. This way, they could wear an ECG patch for just one day to determine whether longer testing is recommended. Alternatively, the model could analyze one- or two-week ECG data to pinpoint patients who, even without any AFib in that timeframe, should have a repeat test.
Patients with frequent AFib episodes can be identified easily with an ECG recorded over at least a week, says Quer. But this AI model could really help with people who have very infrequent AFib episodes yet could still benefit from diagnosis and intervention.
Quer and his colleagues hope to plan a prospective study, as well as integrate other sources of data such as electronic medical records into their models to improve them even more.
In addition to Quer and Gadaleta, authors of the study, Prediction of Atrial Fibrillation from At-home Single-lead ECG Signals without Arrhythmias, include Steven R. Steinhubl of Scripps Research; and Patrick Harrington, Eric Barnhill, Mintu Turakhia and Evangelos Hytopoulos of iRhythm.
This work was funded by the National Institute on Aging (R21AG072349) and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR002550) at the NIH.
Heart Disease Quer, Giorgio
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
New AI-powered algorithm could better assess people's risk of common heart condition Early detection of atrial fibrillation can reduce the risk of stroke and heart failure, but screening people for the condition has been historically challenging. 
