Detection of Subtle ECG Changes Despite Superimposed Artifacts by Different Machine Learning Algorithms

Analyzing electrocardiographic (ECG) signals is crucial for evaluating heart function and diagnosing cardiac pathology. Traditional methods for detecting ECG changes often rely on offline analysis or subjective visual inspection, which may overlook subtle variations, particularly in the case of artifacts. In this theoretical, proof-of-concept study, we investigated the potential of five different machine learning algorithms [random forests (RFs), gradient boosting methods (GBMs), deep neural networks (DNNs), an ensemble learning technique, as well as logistic regression] to detect subtle changes in the morphology of synthetically generated ECG beats despite artifacts. Following the generation of a synthetic ECG beat using the standardized McSharry algorithm, the baseline ECG signal was modified by changing the amplitude of different ECG components by 0.01-0.06 mV. In addition, a Gaussian jitter of 0.1-0.3 mV was overlaid to simulate artifacts. Five different machine learning algorithms were then applied to detect differences between the modified ECG beats. The highest discriminatory potency, as assessed by the discriminatory accuracy, was achieved by RFs and GBMs (accuracy of up to 1.0), whereas the least accurate results were obtained by logistic regression (accuracy approximately 10% less). In a second step, a feature importance algorithm (Boruta) was used to discriminate which signal parts were responsible for difference detection. For all comparisons, only signal components that had been modified in advance were used for discretion, demonstrating that the RF model focused on the appropriate signal elements. Our findings highlight the potential of RFs and GBMs as valuable tools for detecting subtle ECG changes despite artifacts, with implications for enhancing clinical diagnosis and monitoring. Further studies are needed to validate our findings with clinical data.