Hypertension

Artificial Intelligence–Enhanced Electrocardiography for Prediction of Incident Hypertension

JAMA CardiolPublished Prognostic cohort study

Authors' conclusion

Results suggest that AIRE-HTN, an AI-ECG model, can predict incident hypertension and identify patients at risk of hypertension-related adverse events, beyond conventional clinical risk factors.

Study context

Population
Patients with routinely collected ECGs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) (Boston) and UK Biobank volunteers
Participants
189,539 BIDMC training patients
Comparison
BIDMC vs UK Biobank (UKB)
  • BIDMCn = 19,423
  • UKBn = 35,806
Outcome
Incident hypertension (predicted by AIRE-HTN)
Methodological detailsdevelopment and external validation, external validation (UK Biobank), secondary care setting
  • Development and external validation
  • External validation (UK Biobank)
  • Secondary care setting

Performance

As reported in the abstract

Incident hypertension
Test or modelValueC index
BIDMC33%0.70 (95% CI, 0.69-0.71)
UKB4%0.70 (95% CI, 0.69-0.71)

Value

BIDMC33%
UKB4%

C index

BIDMC0.70 (95% CI, 0.69-0.71)
UKB0.70 (95% CI, 0.69-0.71)

Further findings

Hypertension-associated adverse outcomes (adjusted Cox models)

Estimate
AIRE-HTN scoreCV death · beyond traditional risk factorsHR per standard deviation 2.24 (95% CI 1.67–3.00)
AIRE-HTN scoreHF · beyond traditional risk factorsHR 2.60 (95% CI 2.22–3.04)
AIRE-HTN scoreMI · beyond traditional risk factorsHR 3.13 (95% CI 2.55–3.83)
AIRE-HTN scoreIschemic stroke · beyond traditional risk factorsHR 1.23 (95% CI 1.11–1.37)
AIRE-HTN scoreCKD · beyond traditional risk factorsHR 1.89 (95% CI 1.68–2.12)
OutcomeContinuous net reclassification index (95% CI)
Incremental value over existing clinical risk factors for incident hypertensionAIRE-HTN vs existing clinical risk factors · BIDMC0.44 (0.33–0.53)
Incremental value over existing clinical risk factors for incident hypertensionAIRE-HTN vs existing clinical risk factors · UKB0.32 (0.23–0.37)

Incident hypertension in individuals without LV hypertrophy and with normal ECGs (subgroups)

Performance maintained (C indices)
0.67-0.72

Original publication

Artificial Intelligence–Enhanced Electrocardiography for Prediction of Incident Hypertension. JAMA Cardiol. Published 1 March 2025. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2024.4796

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