Sampling Matters: The Effect of ECG Frequency on Deep Learning-Based Atrial Fibrillation Detection

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Mahmuod, Arjan, Hammerstad, Adrian Rod, Yousef, Muzaffar, Heill, Yngve Sebastian, Isaksen, Jonas L., Kanters, Jørgen K., Halvorsen, Pal, Thambawita, Vajira
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Publié: 2026
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author Mahmuod, Arjan
Hammerstad, Adrian Rod
Yousef, Muzaffar
Heill, Yngve Sebastian
Isaksen, Jonas L.
Kanters, Jørgen K.
Halvorsen, Pal
Thambawita, Vajira
author_facet Mahmuod, Arjan
Hammerstad, Adrian Rod
Yousef, Muzaffar
Heill, Yngve Sebastian
Isaksen, Jonas L.
Kanters, Jørgen K.
Halvorsen, Pal
Thambawita, Vajira
contents Deep learning models for atrial fibrillation (AF) detection are increasingly trained on heterogeneous electrocardiogram (ECG) datasets with varying sampling frequencies, yet the specific consequences of these discrepancies on model performance, calibration, and robustness remain insufficiently characterized. To address this, we conducted a systematic benchmark using 12-lead, 10-second recordings from the PTB-XL dataset, resampled to target frequencies of 62, 100, 250, and 500 Hz, to evaluate a standard 1-D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a hybrid CNN-Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) architecture under a rigorous patient-safe cross-validation framework. Our analysis reveals that sampling frequency significantly impacts detection metrics in an architecture-dependent manner; the hybrid CNN-LSTM model demonstrated optimal performance and consistent calibration at intermediate frequencies (100-250 Hz), whereas the 1-D CNN baseline exhibited marked degradation in accuracy and sensitivity at 500 Hz, suggesting increased susceptibility to high-frequency noise. We conclude that ECG sampling frequency is a critical, underappreciated factor in arrhythmia detection, and future foundation models must explicitly control for temporal resolution to ensure clinical reliability and reproducibility.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_16437
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Sampling Matters: The Effect of ECG Frequency on Deep Learning-Based Atrial Fibrillation Detection
Mahmuod, Arjan
Hammerstad, Adrian Rod
Yousef, Muzaffar
Heill, Yngve Sebastian
Isaksen, Jonas L.
Kanters, Jørgen K.
Halvorsen, Pal
Thambawita, Vajira
Signal Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Deep learning models for atrial fibrillation (AF) detection are increasingly trained on heterogeneous electrocardiogram (ECG) datasets with varying sampling frequencies, yet the specific consequences of these discrepancies on model performance, calibration, and robustness remain insufficiently characterized. To address this, we conducted a systematic benchmark using 12-lead, 10-second recordings from the PTB-XL dataset, resampled to target frequencies of 62, 100, 250, and 500 Hz, to evaluate a standard 1-D Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and a hybrid CNN-Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) architecture under a rigorous patient-safe cross-validation framework. Our analysis reveals that sampling frequency significantly impacts detection metrics in an architecture-dependent manner; the hybrid CNN-LSTM model demonstrated optimal performance and consistent calibration at intermediate frequencies (100-250 Hz), whereas the 1-D CNN baseline exhibited marked degradation in accuracy and sensitivity at 500 Hz, suggesting increased susceptibility to high-frequency noise. We conclude that ECG sampling frequency is a critical, underappreciated factor in arrhythmia detection, and future foundation models must explicitly control for temporal resolution to ensure clinical reliability and reproducibility.
title Sampling Matters: The Effect of ECG Frequency on Deep Learning-Based Atrial Fibrillation Detection
topic Signal Processing
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.16437